Wow. After reading this, I kind of want to read more romances set in Africa. Especially historical ones. Does anyone have any recommendations?
Patricia Williams is a new-to-me author that I bought after seeing Rebekah Weatherspoon's TikTok about the history of Black romances and how they've been around a lot longer than (white) people give them credit for. She briefly flashed on another book by this author, called FREEDOM'S SONG, and when I looked that-- and then this-- up, I immediately bought both of the author's books so I could read them, because as a retro romance collector, there's nothing more exciting than finding a new author that you haven't read yet.
WARRIOR'S SONG is set in South Africa/Zululand in the 1800s. The heroine, Monase, is the daughter of an ironsmith. She isn't married because she's too headstrong and too tall: the bane of any historical romance heroine. Cira, the hero, is a warrior in another tribe who is very respected but not married... yet. He also has emotional baggage that will get unpacked later on in the book, that explains his icy demeanor. When they meet, the hero is bathing in a river and the heroine decides to watch (an act he repays later on in the book while she's bathing, we love some sexy reciprocity).
***WARNING: SPOILERS TO FOLLOW***
There's not really a lot of plot to this book. Most of the plot is just big misunderstandings. Cira thinks that Monase is in love with her tribe's medicine doctor, a man who the author takes care to remind us SEVERAL times is unattractive, old, "fat" (her words), and also SMEARS HIMSELF IN POOP. No, I'm not kidding. Poop. There's some sort of religious significance to it, I guess, but it seems to be discretionary because the heroine thinks he's gross and weird, too. But Cira is actually super jealous of Jama/Poop Man, which makes him resent Monsae for being a status-chasing gold digger.
Anyway, Cira basically annexes Monase's people, and Monase's little sister is given to Cira's friend (who's a nice teddybear sort of guy, we stan). Cira's chief sees that Cira is into Monase and IIRC, decides to give her to him as a wife. They bonk before the wedding night though, and she gets pregnant and then OH NO, Monase gets sick/chilled and has a fever nightmare about Jama and while muttering his name, Cira is like, "Fuck, she's still in love with that other guy I HATE THIS WOMAN."
There's a battle where they fight YET ANOTHER TRIBE and Cira almost dies. Monase saves his ass and they go to YET ANOTHER TRIBE, where Cira is hit on by every woman there, and Monase gets a marriage proposal from another medicine doctor (this one is hot). They're both drowning in jealousy but because they told the tribe that they're brother and sister, it's not like they can just, you know, kiss and make up lol. But eventually they realize that they're being stupid, and they end up back with their own people and Cira is like, "Hey, actually I love you so much, you're the only wife for me." (Which is a major compliment since warriors can have multiple wives.
I loved the setting and the beginning of this book. You really do get the feeling that Williams did a shit-ton of research, and it shows. I also liked all of the interpersonal interactions within the tribal settings. Where the book lost me a little is the willful extension of the big misunderstanding, the complete lack of communication, and the author choosing to gloss over any and all action scenes. There's a dangerous animal? It just looks at them and walks away. There's a battle? Most of it is going to be off-page. There's OW/OM drama? Okay, but be quick. There's big misunderstandings to linger over.
I do recommend this book if you can find it because it's so unique and I've never seen another romance like it. I also LOVE the cover. It's embossed so the beadwork on the front actually feels like real beading when you run your fingers over it. That was such a neat touch.
This is one of those books where I think I liked the idea of it better than the execution. BERSERKER is a very short book, under 100 pages long. It is also dark erotica with very dubious consent. One thing that makes BERSERKER stand out is its Norse mythology influence. The heroine is a Valkyrie and only Valkyries have the ability to calm berserkers, which are basically possessed warriors fueled by rage and blood-lust.
On a flight to France, she runs into one of these on the brink of murdering everyone and manages to stop any "incidents." Unfortunately she gets marked in the process, and this particular bersekrer is very possessive and enjoys the thrill of the hunt.
I think this book is way too short to do what needs to be done. I just read another one of her books, THE MONSTER KEEPS ME SAFE, which was great. It was also about 100 pages longer. There's a very anticlimactic ending to this book and not enough time to develop the relationship that Thomas tries to create between these characters. The world-building was so interesting that it feels kind of like a waste to just use it as trimmings.
The Bane fangirls and Omegaverse girlies will probably be into the unhinged violence of the hero-- and the sex *is* pretty hot if you don't mind dub-con-- but I ended up skimming through them just because I was hoping for a little more in the way of story.
Mad props to my friend Meredith for pointing me towards this book. I actually don't normally read Harlequin novels, so when she said this book really dived deep into the emotional and sexual connections between the two leads, without shirking the broader historical contexts that framed their respective cultures, my ears pricked. Especially when she said that it contained some pretty intense BDSM scenes.
Really, Harlequin? I'm SHOCKED. SHOCKED, I say!
I read THE VIKING'S RUNAWAY CONCUBINE in less than twenty-four hours. Despite the cheesy cover, it is one of the most beautiful, angsty love stories I've read in a while. Eithne is an Irish woman who lived in Dublin before it was taken by vikings (I'm suspecting this is set in, like, 800 CE). To spare himself, her brother sold her as a slave, and she was picked up from the block by a man named Ulfric.
I pictured Ulfric as looking like Henry Cavill or Charlie Hunnam, but the dynamic between him and Eithne is a lot like the one between Khal Drogo and Daenerys. He's a big warrior dude with braids who was attracted to the tranquility of the girl he saw as much as he was by the defiant fire in his eyes. And rather than ill-use her, he gradually acclimated her to his preferred style of love-making, which involves ropes and canes and other things. The author really goes into the psychology of why he and Eithne do what they do and it was both fascinating and sensual.
But then Eithne slashes his face with a knife to get away, and when the story begins, Eithne is enjoying her waning days of freedom before Ulfric reclaims her as his captive once more. The story moves forward from there, with her being forced to confront her feelings about being attracted to a man who holds total and complete power over her life, and Ulfric wondering how he can be so happy and furious with her, and still feel like something is missing. The past of their relationship is woven in between these present scenes in a really masterful way that never feels like an info dump, and by the end of the story, I was fully convinced that these two were truly perfect for each other.
It's a complaint of mine that in this age of marketing books by trope and buzzwordy concepts, that a lot of the more important things like emotional connection and character development are sometimes sacrificed to get the two characters together as fast as possible. But this story didn't do that at all. I found myself tearing up at several parts, especially towards the end, and despite the unequal power dynamics and the consensual non-consent, I felt like Eithne and Ulfric really were equals-- at least, when it came to one another. I can't wait to read her other viking book. It's about the hero's brother, Thorbrand. If it's half as good as this one, I will be well pleased.
f you are a fan of Nadine Crenshaw's EDIN'S EMBRACE, I think you'll love this, too.
I've been on a bit of a viking kick lately, so I was excited to pick up SEA KING. It's the only book Jolie Mathis ever wrote, which makes me sad, because it's not bad for a debut but it also suffers some of the usual beginners' jitters, and I think it's a shame that she didn't keep up with the craft because I would have loved to read some of her later books after she'd had time to improve. But some of us only have one story in us, so if she just wanted to write the one and check the list, that's fair, too.
SEA KING is about Isabel, a Saxon princess, and Kol, a Norse warrior. When her horse throws her as a young woman, she falls into a river and nearly drowns, but the young viking saves her. As it turns out, he's on her way to the hall-- where he is promptly treated like a prisoner, and tortured. Isabel frees him, and when they reunite years later, she regrets doing so, because what does he do, but immediately sack her village, thus causing everyone to brand herself as a traitoress. Plus, her half-brother, Ranulf, has told her that the child she mysteriously bore was the result of him raping her as she slept, so she thinks he's an ignoble, rapey bastard.
As the story goes on, it starts to become clear that this might not be the case. One, because honor would have prevented it. Two, because he didn't really have time. And three, because due to a curse from his witch-mother, he believes himself to be impotent. Also, several people have cast their rapey eye on Isabel, including, maybe, her own brother. So with the paternity of her son up in dispute, and fights breaking out all over the kingdom, SEA KING starts to look and feel a lot like a medieval episode of Jerry Springer with multiple people screaming, "YOU ARE NOT THE FATHER!"
Initially, I liked this book a lot, but it quickly started to feel like a pale imitation of a viking book I enjoyed a lot more (Caitlin Crews's THE VIKING'S RUNAWAY CONCUBINE). The FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC vibe and court intrigues kept me reading, but the twist with Godric (Isabel's son)'s real parentage was weird. I hated most of the characters in this book, too, including Isabel. I felt so bad for her, but boy, was she thick. After a while, I just wanted to shake her for being such a wishy-washy character. Also, the surprise "hey, guess you're not impotent after all!" ending felt vaguely ableist? I was kind of hoping that the hero was unable to have children, because that's just so rare to see. But ofc, it was just a case of right dick, right person. Isn't that always how it goes in these romances? *eye roll*
I'd recommend this book for people who like vikings or are stuck on planes, preferably both, but that's a pretty small Venn diagram.
When one of my friends told me that THE MISTED CLIFFS was not only a villain romance, it was also a marriage of convenience romance, I basically tripped over myself ordering a copy of this book online. Unfortunately, this series appears to be out of print, which is a shame, because the covers are beautiful and the stories are really fun. I actually remember reading book one in high school-- which is about this heroine's mom when she was young-- and thinking it was okay, but kind of meh. Well, clearly I need to reread that book because THE MISTED CLIFFS, which can be read independently of the first book in the series, totally blew me away with how awesome it was.
So first, a caveat. The names in this book kind of make it sound like a teen girl's first attempt at a Wattpad fantasy novel. The heroine is named Melody. Her mother is named Chime. The love interest is named Cobalt, and his mother is named Dancer. It sounds like it might be intolerable, but the story is-- hear me out-- AMAZING. Cobalt, also known as Dark Cobalt and The Midnight Prince, is the son of the villain in the first book. He's also a ruthless strategist and conqueror who will stop at nothing to retain his birthright, when his kingdom of The Misted Cliffs was much larger, and contained several now-independent countries as part of its commonwealth.
Cobalt is the son of a ruthless family. As I said in the previous paragraph, his father, Varqelle, was the villain of book one. His grandfather, Stonebreaker, is a psychopath and a tyrant. Cobalt isn't quite as bad as either of them-- at one point the heroine says he's waging a battle between dark and light-- but the fact that he can take the time to think and plan makes him even more dangerous. That is actually how his marriage to the heroine comes about. He, his father, and grandfather are planning on how to make Harsdown theirs, and he proposes marriage as an alternative to war. He goes to her expecting a boyish tomboy and is instead struck by the beauty of the woman who can cast powerful mage spells as well as fight with a sword.
I think the author did such a good job with everything. The shyness between the hero and heroine in their rather difficult marriage. The attraction between them. Cobalt's uncertainty with everything that isn't battle. The battle scenes. The court intrigue. The history behind all of the characters, good and bad. Game of Thrones this may not be, but it has the emotional complexity that fans of fantasy love, as well as the action and the magic, but without all of the grimdark bloodshed, violence, and racism/sexism that can make such books unpalatable reads. I finished this in just under twenty-four hours and ordered books #3 and #4 in the series before I had even finished.
As far as villain romances go, this is very gentle, but Cobalt is such a wonderful, haunted hero, and I liked how even with the heroine softening his harsh edges, he was still like YAY CONQUERING. Even if it's a bloodless conquering. I can't wait to see how he furthers his villainy in the next book, only to be thwarted by his wife at every turn. They're the ultimate power couple and yes, I stan.
I feel like this book blackmailed me into liking it because it did a lot of things that really fucking annoyed me, and yet I couldn't put it down. I'm currently doing an audit of the villain romances I have on deck because I want to feature some of my favorites, and this is one that has been recommended to me by several people. A tall, dark, brooding type who basically lives in his armor and wields a sword capable of ending the world? YESSSSSSS.
The heroine, Seren, is a weaver living in medieval times but she has just been rejected from apprenticeship. As she is walking home, stinging with failure, she is assaulted by two men claiming to be knights and that she's to be the mother of the next Merlin. Being a peasant woman and a rational human being, she assumes that they're about to rape her and have their fun with her, so when a mysterious man on horseback offers assistance, she takes his hand.
Unfortunately for her, the would-be rapists weren't rapists at all. They were actually agents of Merlin-- and the man who abducted her is the Kerrigan, the champion of Morgen Le Fey. Whoops. They plan to use her as leverage to take over the world, and she just moved the dark pieces one step closer to checkmate. But one thing none of them ever counted on was Kerrigan falling for their captive.
So this is like villain romance lite. Kerrigan threatens to rape Seren a couple times, but apart from brooding and killing some people who deserved it, he doesn't do anything outright evil. Seren is the typical heroine in these sorts of romances-- good and idealistic to the point of near stupidity and not at all believable. I did like her but it's because hating her is like hating a Disney princess or a bunny. Anyone who hates those things is probably a psychopath. Who hates Disney princesses and bunnies? The serial killer next door, that's who.
The sex scenes in this book were actually really hot-- the scene in the mirrored room was EVERYTHING-- but there were two gross-out things for me in this book that kept me from giving this a higher rating. First, the fetishization of the heroine's virginity. It's referred to as her gift (which, ugh) and when he kisses her he goes on and ON about being the only person to ever claim her mouth and being able to taste her innocence (which also, ugh). Because this is sort of set in the fantasy equivalent of medieval times, I could *sort of* buy it, but I really didn't like it.
The second thing this book does that really annoyed me is right after the hero and heroine have sex-- like, literally days after-- people just KNOW she's pregnant, and start talking about "the child" and "the baby" even though it's literally just cells at that point. Pro-choice me cringed at this because on the one hand, I GET IT, but on the other hand, language like this is why we just lost Roe v. Wade. IT'S NOT A BABY. It's not even a fetus. Something about that just really squicked me out.
Apart from that, I thought this was fun in a cheesy aughts fantasy sort of way. Like the BLACK DAGGER BROTHERHOOD, I kept thinking "this is so dumb" but being unable to put it down because the story was so entertaining. The bromance between Blaise and Kerrigan was hilarious and I loved how Merlin was a woman and locked Thomas Malory in a dungeon for besmirching her character. At times, it had a portal fantasy/Narnia vibe to it that was almost nostalgic. Just know going into this that it's essentially fated-to-be-mated with a lot of those tropes and dated whoops!sexism references that can make you feel like you need to apologize to your Women's Studies professor.
UPDATE: There's a hilarious ad in this book that I couldn't stop thinking about (yes, for the Zebra Big Mouth Box), and I just got confirmation on Reddit THAT IT EXISTS. You can apparently buy them on eBay.
I've been slowly working my way through my bodice-ripper collection. EDIN'S EMBRACE has been on my radar for years, but I haven't really liked most of the viking romances I've read (90% of which were written by Johanna Lindsey), so I was a little leery about picking it up. Finally, though, I decided to bite the bullet and give it a try... and I am so glad I did.
Edin is an English lady who is engaged to her childhood best friend, Cedric. She's feeling ambivalent about the nuptials, however, since she isn't really attracted to him and she's also a virgin. Unfortunately for them, they never have a chance to work it out. Vikings come and murder Cedric and a whole bunch of other people, and Edin and a lot of the people who used to be her servants are all taken as slaves.
The hero in this book is Thoryn and he is a bad-ass motherfucker. I am a sucker for icy heroes who give zero fucks, and he fits that bill to a T. He murders the heroine's fiance right in front of her-- while he's in the middle of molesting her, in fact. He attacks his own men if they defy him, and rules with an iron fist and a massive blade. The only person who actually really dares to defy him is the last person who should: Edin herself.
This book was so amazing for a variety of reasons. First, Thoryn actually walks the walk of badassery, so when he humbles himself for the heroine, it usually happens in a subtle way. He doesn't kill her for running away, even though that's the punishment for runaway slaves. He pretends to give her the illusion of consent when he finally beds her (it's forced seduction, but both of them know he could have forced himself on her violently). And Edin has a valid reason for acting the way she does. She's a sheltered noblewoman who is used to being obeyed, so she has a lot of pride, and when she's subjugated in front of the people who used to be her servants and now revel in bullying her, it hits different.
EDIN'S EMBRACE is not without the usual litany of 1980s purple prose. Her pubic reason is described as "gently mossed" and I lost it when the hero compares her blonde pubes to "yellow parsley." But the book also feels exquisitely well researched, and when there are raids or descriptions of the viking homelife, it really felt transportive. ALSO, one of the villains-- a freeman who ends up as a "cripple" and therefore shamed-- kind of ends up with a pretty sweet redemption arc, and the other villain, the hero's mother, Inga, is 100% pure grade A batshit crazy. We're talking Mommie Dearest/Flowers in the Attic levels of crazy. And the way the author foreshadows her madness and drags it out-- GOLD.
Sadly, this book, like all of her others, appear to be out of print. I hope it gets rereleased, though, because it's really fun and the romance is so meaningful and emotional and fraught, and I actually loved the heroine just as much as I loved the hero. I can't wait to read more of her books!
I bought MIDNIGHT EYES purely on impulse because it was pretty inexpensive in the Kindle Store and one of my hobbies is buying and reading half-forgotten romance novels that are 10+ years old because it's fun finding a book that nobody else has heard of and getting people as excited about it as I am, case in point: THIS BOOK. Oh my gosh, this book. It gave me all the sighs, all the feelings, all the nail-biteys. You know a book is good when you're reaching the high-point of the dramatic tension and can't stop click-click-clicking away.
Medieval romances are something that I love in theory but often find myself disliking in execution because the material either isn't handled well or the characters are flat and dimensionless. Neither is the case in this book. The heroine, Imogen, is known throughout the land as "Lady Deformed" after a beating from her abusive brother left her blinded. When he marries her to a hardened warrior of the king's, it seems like another cruel joke: putting her at the mercy of a man who will use her ill. But Robert is anything but cruel. He has an old man named Matthew as his squire and treats all of his men well, and honor means everything to him, so before even laying eyes on her, he's already putting an end to the cruel nicknames, saying that an insult to her is an insult to him.
And then he sees her and... well, obviously she's pretty because of course.
But a lifetime of abuse has left its toll on Imogen and being unable to see and abandoned in a place filled with shadows and bad memories has left her feeling angry and defensive. I could see some reviewers annoyed by the repeated mentions of Imogen's beauty but she never really felt like a Mary Sue to me because she had so much damage and it soon became pretty clear that Robert was interested in her in a way that went beyond the surface. So MIDNIGHT EYES ends up being a story of a slow-burn love between a man who is afraid of being vulnerable and a woman who is afraid of being ill-used and the best part of this book is their beautiful love story of intimacy and trust, replete with incredibly well-written sex scenes that add to, rather than detract from, their bond.
YES.
I think the plot line with Imogen's brother is going to be triggering for some but for the most part, much of it is alluded to rather than explicitly written out. Most of the focus is on the main couple and I loved Robert, who is one of the best representations of the caring alpha hero that I've encountered in the wild in a while. My only complaints were that the rescue mission in the last quarter lasted way too long and having the hero named Robert and the brother named Roger was a bit confusing. If I were the editor, I would have advised against having two main characters being named so similarly.
Honestly, this is just such a great book and one of the better medieval romances I've ever read. I wish the companion book about Gareth wasn't out of print because after reading this one, I'm desperate to know his story, too. Sigh.
Sometimes I buy books just because the cover is so outrageous that it makes me laugh-- and this book, THE WITCH AND THE WARRIOR, is almost iconic in the sheer magnificence of its cheese. It's laid out like a stepback, with a close up of the Fabio wannabe gazing pensively into the distance, holding a pink gem at dick height that's gushing white sparkles (SYMBOLIC!). Below that, we see him and the bound heroine locked in a passionate embrace. KINKY! Only, no, because behind them, we see a girl tied to a stake, engulfed by flames-- and not the passionate flames, but the real shit.
***WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD***
When we first meet the heroine, Gwendolyn, she's about to be burned by her village. The MacSweens, her clan, have always been suspicious of her and her family, but after she's wrongly blamed for the death of her father, they've decided enough is enough. And her execution was expedited by the evil brother of the clan's laird, Robert, who likes to rape women, and planned on raping Gwendolyn until he found out that her father had a magical stone with magical powers-- then he decided he wanted badly enough that he was willing to kill for it. And so he did.
The entire village has come to toast and leer and celebrate Gwendolyn's horrendous death, and they've invited one of the other clans, the MacDunns, to join in the celebration. So nobody is more surprised when Mad Alex Dunn steals her right out of the fire like a naughty boy swiping the last hamburger off the girl, and makes off with her along with his men, and the daughter of the clan's laird, Isabella, who has a lot of very explicit and infuriated things to say about her kidnapping.
As it turns out, Alex wants her to help heal his sickly son, David. After his mother, Flora, died, Alex became "mad" with sorrow and extremely overprotective. But nothing his healing women have done has helped, so he's turned to witchcraft and the devil. Knowing that her usefulness is the only thing keeping her alive and out of the clutches of Robert MacSween, Gwendolyn agrees to see to the young boy, figuring that since her mother was a healer, maybe she can rough her way out of the situation.
I wasn't expecting to like this book as much as I did, but it's actually a lot of fun. It kind of reminds me of Elizabeth Vaughn's WARPRIZE. The alpha hero is gruff and stoic, but quite kind-hearted and charming in his way. The way he interacts wth his clan results in some great banter. I loved the elders, especially the blood-thirsty Reginald, the cranky Owen, and Lachlan with all of his potently noxious "anti-witch" potions that are also anti-wood, anti-metal, and anti-basically anything organic. And while I'm not always a fan of children in romances, I loved David, too.
The unique characters, action-sequences, and strong women make this a fast-paced and fun read, and I found myself drawn into the story immediately. The scenery descriptions are excellent and in some ways, it follows the same formula that have made a lot of YA fantasy and historical fiction so popular: large casts of likable characters with distinct personalities, forbidden romance, a strong and tortured female lead, and lots of amusing banter. Honestly, apart from the sex scenes (which are no more graphic than one could find in A Court of Thorns and Roses), I think this is a book that would really appeal to older teens as a gateway romance into historical romance books. It's FUN.
I'll definitely be checking out more books by this author.
How did I end up becoming the inadvertent Smut Queen of Goodreads? One day, you're just an ordinary individual, the next day, people are blowing up your socials with links to books that they want to see you review. There's probably a cautionary tale in that somewhere. Being ordinary is boring, though.
CHOOSING HER ALPHA initially made me guffaw when I saw it. The title is cheesy, and the guy on the cover-- yike on a bike! His abs have abs, and there's so much body hair on this dude that it seems to be growing like kudzu. I'm somewhat new to the whole omegaverse premise, but if you're unfamiliar, it's actually pretty scary. It's like the big girl panties version of the sci-fi/futuristic romance genre. Think sex-caste societies, like THE CAPTIVE PRINCE, only with the outdated wolf pack hierarchies (since debunked) and enhanced anatomy that allows for things like "knots" (dick engorges, staying pinned in the female), cervical gates (so the dick can go all the way into the stomach), and gushing bodily fluids of all kind. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
To my surprise, CHOOSING HER ALPHA is exceptionally well-written, a cut above even the one Zoey Ellis book I liked. It was actually reminiscent of R. Lee Smith's work, who I consider peak science-fiction romance. Like, she is the queen of the genre. She is for that genre what the YA gang thinks of Sarah J. Maas when it comes to YA fantasy. The world-building was just so well done, and while some of the biology in other omegaverse books had me rolling my eyes and/or clenching my legs (cervical slamming? NO THANKS, BYE!), well-- this one did that, a little, but it also made sense and it seemed like the author was really going out of her way to make this an addictive, well-written story instead of a smutty erotic work drenched in mating fluids.
Sascha is an Omega Breeder, which means she's one of those females with the cervix gate thingies that allows her body to take in the super-size Alpha dicks. (I feel so dirty just writing that.) She's also, as her group implies, a prime breeder: the only kind of female who can give birth to other Omegas and Alphas. Sometimes, Omegaverse books have the A/B/O folks being some kind of humans, or humans with special abilities, but here they are a separate group of individuals entirely called "breeds." Humans are often referred to as "drones" and some of them are kept as slaves, but when they're free, they typically do day-to-day drudge work. There are also Betas, the lower-tier.
Sascha lives with her dying mother, who hated her father and hates Sascha too. Sascha thought she was going to be able to choose her own husband but she finds out that her mother, mad with hatred and pain, has decided to basically sell her as a sex slave to her step-father, who can't wait to rape her and tells her so. Obviously frightened, Sascha decides to flee to find another Alpha who can protect her from her step-father's clutches, which turns out to be a man named Kane.
Kane initially has no interest in Sascha, because despite being eighteen, she's still a "juvenile" because she hasn't hit her estrous yet. Some readers might be angry because Kane has an orgy while Sascha watches, but in his defense (1) he didn't know she was there, and (2) one of the harem women contrived that she would be there in a dominance power play that would have the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills quaking (actually-- can we get a Real Housewives of the Omegaverse spin-off? 10/10 would pay to watch/read the shit out of that, thanks). But surprise, Kane actually does like Sascha a lot, and even though he can't have sex with her yet, it's very clear that he admires her bravery.
OH MY GOD, I loved this book. The consummation between the main couple takes a while, but that makes sense and he even tells her that if he tried to be with her before she developed, he would hurt her and anyone who does that is sick. He cares SO MUCH about her, and not only that, he cares SO MUCH about his people. When we learn the truth about Sascha and her family, and how their history ties into Kane's, my heart went UNNNNNGGGG. Mindless smut is fine but well-written stories with good twists are even better, and this one had a really great message with a moral(!) hero.
Also, another thing that turns a lot of people off from Omegaverse novels is that they are rapey as fuck. Like, all the ones that I've read before, even the ones I liked, have the hero raping the heroine. This book is the first I've read where it's all completely consensual and the author did such a great job playing up the connection between them and showing Kane to be a dangerous, powerful man without making him an abuser. And while sometimes I eat up romances with problematic heroes on a silver spoon, it is also way more fun to root for a strong man with a good heart who isn't afraid to chop off some hands or bash out some brains in the name of honor (true story).
I really enjoyed CHOOSING HER ALPHA and will definitely be reading the next in the series!
This book is like a cheesy 80s fantasy movie and I mean that in the best way. Seriously, if you dig the sword and sandal vibe and were a fan of the Xena: The Warrior Princess TV show, you're going to love this. THE WARRIOR TRAINER is a kind of wallpaper medieval historical romance set in Scotland. The heroine, Scotia, is a warrior trainer. Just one of many women in a long line of warrior trainers. I guess they just train heroes and protect this magic stone thingy called The Stone of Destiny. Whatever, I can vibe it.
The hero, Ian, is from Clan MacKinnon in Scotland. Like the heroine, he has firsthand experience with the Four Horsemen, the evil British raiders who are tormenting the Scots and take a savage glee in torturing and razing their citizens just to prove dominion. He comes to Scotia to learn from her and develop his skills in order to prove his worth as a seasoned warrior and one day become a leader for his clan.
This was just... so good. There was so much I loved about this book. The heroine was so strong. I loved the fight scenes, the training sequences were just begging for an 80s hair metal montage, and her armor was envy-worthy. I also loved how the hero was so devoted to her, admiring her not just for her beauty but also for her skills and noble heart. The fact that he worshipped the ground she walked upon was seriously #goals. Add to that really intense action scenes, some quote-worthy dialogue, and some really great morals, and you have a recipe for a book that would make a kick-butt movie.
The only thing that was really lacking in this book, for me, was the romance. I just didn't really feel the chemistry between Scotia and Ian. I liked them both a lot as people but they just didn't ZING. That was okay though since everything else in the book was so cool. I seriously lived for the passages where Scotia schooled Griffin and other would-be challengers who totally deserved posts on r/gatekeeping. This is the girl power epic I didn't even know I needed and I've already bought the rest of the trilogy.
I don't know if I can properly convey what a marvel this book is. My friend bought me a copy of this in ebook a long time ago and this is my third time reading it. Every time I find something new. On the surface, it is pretty similar to a lot of other alien monsterfucker books that are out. The heroine is plucky and comparatively unafraid of her circumstances. The hero is a lizard man and yet still compellingly attractive. What makes this book stand apart-- beside the length-- is the depth of the world building and how fleshed out and complex the characters are.
Amber and her sister sign up to be colonists when they run out of options on Earth. But something goes wrong and they end up on a planet that seems to be called Gann, which is inhabitated by a bunch of dangerous creatures, including the lizard race, called the "dumaq." From their ruling class is Meoraq, who's like a cross between a samurai and a Crusading knight, and has the personality of a lizard-man Sesshoumaru. After his father's death, he has doubts about taking a wife and becoming the steward of his house, so he has decided to make a pilgrimage to their holy place, Xi-Matezh.
Along the way, he encounters the humans and it's just... omg, so beautifully done. The other humans are all pretty awful, but they're awful in such a realistic way that it's hard to hate any of them without feeling a tiny glint of empathy too (only a tiny bit, though). You know an author is good when she can make you feel such love and hate for her characters. I loved the romance between Amber and Meoraq, and the strife that they had to go to for their HEA was seriously stressing me out. There's amazing twists, daring escapes, professions of love, and so many surprises. Even knowing what was going to happen, I still found myself shocked at how powerful some of the scenes in this book were.
I also loved how the author managed to make faith such a focal part of this book. Whether you're religious or not, I think everyone relates to feelings of doubt and uncertainty that comes from questioning your faith and whether you're living the life that was intended for you and also, what happens next? Meoraq's faith is badly shaken several times over the course of this book and I thought that was just as interesting a part of his character development as the emotional one he had with Amber.
Quick warning that there is a lot of rape and violence in this book and there are also moments of dubious consent between Meoraq and Amber (on both their parts; she gropes him when she thinks he's asleep). I don't think the author did anything for shock value and it seemed more for the purpose of exploring how people are exploited in certain power dynamics and what happens when a corrupted society is allowed to fester, so I wasn't too upset by it, but I know some people don't want to read about that at all. So it is here. But FWIW, I do feel like the author treated the matter with gravity and respect. No matter how horrible it got, I never felt like she was milking the events of the book for shock value.
So yeah, that's THE LAST HOUR OF GANN. It was just as good as I remembered and as with every book of hers I read, I find myself questioning my own abilities as an author because she goes to places, in such glorious detail, that I'm not sure I would ever dare to tread.
WARPRIZE was a book that I put off reading for a while because I'd hyped it up in my mind so much that I was afraid it wouldn't meet my expectations. But I finally mustered up the courage to read it and much to my surprise and delight, it exceeded my expectations in all ways. This is a slow-burn romance with a light fantasy setting that makes up for the lack of magic with great world-building and a diverse and interesting cast of characters who are all worth getting to know. I had so much fun reading this fantasy romance.
✨ The heroine is a healer. As fun as it can be to read about warrior or assassin heroines who take on their enemies by the sword, it's also sometimes nice to read about people whose strength lies in their intelligence and their kindness. The heroine, Lara, first attracts the attention of the hero because of her steadfast attention to healing the wounded of both camps, including the enemy's. Everyone loves her-- but there's ample reason for it here, which keeps her from coming across as a Mary Sue. Plus, we constantly see her at work and it's such a delightful part of the world-building.
✨ The heroine is a compassionate warlord. Picture Khal Drogo, only without the cruel streak. That's Keir, the hero: warlord of a group of people who ride horses on the plains and have just come to an uneasy truce with Lara's people. I could say sooo many great things about Keir, not just that he's hot but also that he's noble and honorable and merciful and kind. Not a pushover by any means, but definitely a man who knows that blood is not always the answer, and that the best way to win the heart of a lady is to treat her with respect and patience. *heart eyes* I stan an honorable man!
✨ The court intrigue. Even though the world-building is light, there's still enough tension to keep the pages turning. Lara's half-brother, Xymund, sells her into what he thinks is slavery when he gives her to Keir, and a lot of the book is her slowly coming to trust Keir and his people and realizing that so much of what she believed about them was wrong (and vice-versa). There's also political machinations and assassination attempts, threatening not just Lara's life but also that uneasy peace.
✨ The romance. Look, it's slow-burn with some great relationship building with two likable characters who just want to find happiness while also not screwing over their respective people. If you've ever read Grace Draven's RADIANCE, you'll know what to expect: it's like a comedy of errors that makes light of the misunderstandings and cultural disconnects of two people from different worlds whose compassion and empathy end up uniting them over their differences.
✨ Excellent secondary characters. Whether it was Anna, the temperamental cook; Atira, the female warrior who secretly loves fantasy epics; Simus, the brave and intimidating warrior with the outrageous sense of fashion; Joden, the bard (who reminded me a lot of Jaskier from The Witcher, only with better luck with the ladies), or Warren, Lara's noble guardsman, there were so many people in here who added spice to the story and some genuinely entertaining interactions.
Was it cheesy at times? Yes, but that's part of the fun of a fantasy romance, and honestly, this had more depth to it than some of those dudebro fantasy "classics," so even if you don't think you like romance, I'd still recommend it to fantasy readers who enjoy a good character-driven story.
Nenia ✨ I yeet my books back and forth ✨
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