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)

 

GRR Reviews Bleacke's Geek by Lesli Richardson

 Dewi Bleacke is a prime alpha wolf (one of the very few female prime alphas) and head enforcer of the Targhee Pack in Florida. While on the hunt for a dirtbag who literally sold his daughter for drugs, she came across her one true mate... in the form of a vegetarian geek professor by the name of Dr. Heathcliff McKenzie Ethelbert. "Inviting" him into the restroom for a quick romp may not be the best way to a guy's heart, nor was gunning down the scumbag then "inviting" "Ken" to come along (quietly). But a girl's gonna do what must be done, including meeting her "family"... partner "Beck", and surrogate father "Badger" (both shifters) who had to adapt to living with a "grazer". But someone is watching from the shadows... a killer that killed Dewi's parents and almost killed her and was never caught. Will "Ken" rise above the low expectations, and be a worthy mate to Dewi? 

 For a series starter, the reversal of roles (generally, the shifter is H and the human is h, this has the reverse) is a great way to keep things interesting. And while the onion peel was done properly it just feels a bit too quick, and the bad guy's obsession and motivation a bit suspect.  Still, it's a fun story. 

4/5

GRR Reviews Enchanted, Inc. by Shanna Swendson

Katie knew that New York is weird and wonderful, but this small-town Texas girl is feeling a bit lost in the city. Working as a marketing director's assistant was not a joy when her boss is a boss from hell (blames her assistant for her own lack of organization). It's gotten to the point where even she doesn't notice the weirdness anymore. That's when she got the job offer from MSI... Magic, Spells and Illusions Inc. Turns out, magic is very much alive in the world, and Katie has a special gift: she's immune to magic. Which makes her uniquely qualified as a "verifier" in the magic business... No one can pull off a magic trick on her.  But office politics can be even MORE of a hassle when girls' night out involves fairies, her boss is an actual ogre, and she's got a crush on the shy but powerful wizard who's the head of R&D. Oh, and the CEO is Merwin, better known in history as Merlin (as in King Authur and Camelot). When MSI suddenly got a competitor who wants to sell black magic to the world at large, Katie's solution may be the only way forward...

Interesting take on "urban fantasy", and it's a load of fun to read. Romance is minimal, but everything flowed great. 4.5/5