GRR Reviews He Said Together by Ruth Cardello

NOTE: Available on Kindle Unlimited as of review date. 

Kal and his twin Riley have very different views on life. Riley wanted to learn about the Corisis, but Antonio Corisi was the one who broke their mother's back, putting the fear into her for as long as they had lived. Kal on the other hand, refuse to trust anyone, but will do whatever it takes for his family, including becoming the premier exotic dancer in Vegas... // Jade thought she knew passion looked like, until she saw Kal's performance, as "Invio" on stage. But when she found out her fiancee had been cheating at that very moment, then her bridesmaids left her, drunk and wallet-less, at her own bachelorette party, she was saved by Kal / Invio, who encouraged her to seek out her own dreams instead of merely accepting what's in front of her. Some time later, Kal was suddenly financially free, and the only woman on his mind was Jade. But is Jade ready for him when he said forever? 

Very interesting emotional arc, as Kal's mistrust, or lack of faith, is making him fail his own connection to his own family, and his tendency to find a place to sulk and brood instead of talking was a part of his arc to come out of it. Jade's arc is transition from a rather... mousy girl who thought she just wanted a family to a woman who wanted the right man, in his right mind. 

4.5/5

GRR Reviews Moon Blooded Breeding Clinic by C M Nascosta

 NOTE: Available on Kindle Unlimited as of review time Sep 1, 2022

MBBC is a non-human/human romance, specifically, wolf-shifter / human romance from a slightly unexpected angle: fertility clinic. It is quite sweet, almost cloyingly so. 

Lowell Hemming, the only Hemming boy (of wolfshifter family) who left town in several generations, is forced back to town when a human pandemic shut down the world, ruining his career as a photojournalist. Living in his hometown as "one of those Hemmings boys" (6 in total) made his every action under scrutiny, and he literally has no one to f- as he had NO attachment to his hometown, having been away for far too long. Then a brochure offered him a potential way out... a fertility clinic alternative... // Moriah knew she may face difficulty conceiving from her non-human husband, but she never anticipated the problem lead to their divorce. Now with her own business thriving, she's free to get the one thing she wanted: a child. And Moon Blooded Breeding Clinic offers a very different solution... Be introduced to a wolf-shifter, get a shot to align the cycle and trigger a heat, and breed with a handsome werewolf before the full moon. It's cheaper than interspecies IVF, much more pleasant, and cheaper than adoption. 

But neither Lowell nor Moriah counted on catching feelings...

As I said, the story is cloyingly sweet... Lowell is the perfect gentleman, only slightly rougher in wolf-form. But there's just a HINT of ickyness as Moriah was under the hormones in the subsequent months where she really fell for Lowell.  One also questions how did Lowell account for lust vs. love, as he literally suffered months of blue balls before meeting Moriah. At least they had a good first meeting where she wasn't in heat and he just has blue balls (though they... well, went to a hotel to test their compatibility). 

The verbiage during the breeding sounds a bit porn-y, and we spent way too much time in Lowell's head, compared to be in Moriah's head. Seems Lowell painted himself into a corner of his own choosing, and his parents knew he had to "escape" in his own way, he just made escape literal instead of the way his brothers (including his twin brother) did in other ways. 

4/5 (rounded up from 3.5/5)