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 Quinn Security Box Set by Dee Bridgnorth

NOTE: This is a collection of 5 books, which balloons the page count of over 1800 pages.

This review will be a little different from my typical reviews, as I'm trying to evaluate the entire series, instead of one book at a time.

Despite the name suggests it's about a bunch of bodyguards falling for their protectee, it's not. This is really a werewolf series. Really. Paranormal shifters.

Devil's Fist Wyoming is right on the border of Yellowstone National Park, and home to the Quinns, five brothers: Troy, Kaleb, Shane, Conor, and Dean. But they are keeping a huge secret... they are all wolf-shifters had that lived hundreds of years, and Troy is the clan Alpha, the wolf king, of the area, after passing of his father. The town has many wolf-shifters living amongst the populace, who's not aware of their existence.

Then one full-moon night it all changed... a young librarian's colleague was brutally killed by a beast. An ambitious sheriff is determined to get to the bottom of it, and runs into Troy, as Troy sensed the attacker was NOT a wolf... and he found, after piecing together clues... the conclusion is inevitable... He's up against a rogue shifter... with unimaginable mind powers of compulsion. And Troy realized that the young librarian may be his one true mate...

The series goes on to feature each brother falling for another female... but each has his or her own secrets and ambitions.  Kaleb fell for the waitress who had a surprising heritage she's not aware of. Shane was paired with sheriff's fiery daughter who refuses to be protected by her father or be cowed by him. Conor found himself drawn to the deputy Rachel who's determined to get a promotion... by finding out more about the shifters. And Dean ended up falling for a city slicker girl, who has her own surprise for the entire town...

There is definitely a bit of world-building, as the shifter lore here is quite different from the typical shifter lore, but more of a mix between shifter and vampire lore. (Shifter blood turns a normal to a shifter with ties to the original shifter) And there is quite a bit of sex. The UBG does make his appearance from time to time. usually with a dastardly plan that was barely thwarted with some hard fought battles.

All in all, I liked the series, but it seriously needs a new title to tell the readers it's NOT a typical security tale.

Category: Contemporary / Shifter

Overall Rating: 4/5

NOTE: Tropes are now in the "Labels" below.

GRR Reviews Bear to Love by Amy Lamont

Macy is a bear shifter in a family of bear shifters, and has a gift to calm and care for any animals, including humans. // Nash and Gage, both bear shifters, survived their mission and made it back, but traumatized. What they've seen... shall not be talked about, and they found only they can calm each other, else both have nightmares. When Macy decided to help them, she suddenly found herself (and her bear) wanting both of them... even though every bearshifter she knew are monogamous... Will they end up the only MFM paring in known history, even though it felt so right?

The plot is shallow, as basically they are trying to understand their attraction to each other, as it's almost taboo (but it's not, merely unconventional). Sex is pretty hot, but there wasn't much else to it.

Category: Contemporary / Paranormal / Shifter

Overall Rating: 2.5/5 (rounded up)

NOTE: Tropes are now in the "Labels" below. 

GRR Reviews Rescued by the Berserker by Lee Savino

Knut is a berserker warrior wolf-shifter leading his warriors on a mission to defeat the Corpse King. But when Hazel crossed his path, he knew she will be his... and only his. // Hazel barely escaped from the Corpse King, forced to leave her friends behind. The Abbey taught her that to give in the physical desires is a sin, but Knut not only rescued her from the corpses, but promised to love and cherish her... yes, that way too...

Really, not much there. There's a twist, but it's an old one. No big deal. It's basically insta-lust with trope developements.

Category: Paranormal / Romantic suspense

Primary Plot: Woman escaping from big evil was rescued by wolf-shifter warrior on a mission, who also claimed her as his own

Overall Rating: 2/5

NOTE: Tropes are now in the "Labels" below. 

GRR Reviews Tempted by the Wolf: A Werewolf Shifter by Alicia Montgomery

Tempted by the Wolf is the grand finale to the 6-book series where the threat to the wolf shifters by the blood mages will finally be resolved... one way or another. It helps if you know the shifter lore or the setup from the previous 5 novels, but it's not required. To recap...

Meredith, a lone wolf (unaffiliated with any clan) was caught stealing from the New York clan and is spending 10 years of "house arrest" for her penance, and her latest assignment is to babysit the captured warlock Daric, who was once fighting at their archenemy's side. But Daric was forced and wanted Stefan's defeat as much as anyone... Not that the Lycans can take the chance, of course. Then Meredith's "brothers" came calling... Their adoptive father is dead... and it may have something to do with their archenemy, Stefan. As Daric and Meredith came to accept each other's loss, their attraction to each other grew. But when the latest attack from Stefan came from an unexpected quarter, will Meredith be the one weakness that will destroy Daric... or the one strength that will allow Daric to defeat Stefan?

The callbacks to previous novels are nice, and all the new lore seems to make sense. I do have a problem with the darkest hour AND ending being a bit convenient but the final fight was nice and tense right up to the final moment. And let's just say, if you read the previous novel, you'll get a kick out of ending here.

Category: Paranormal

Primary Plot: the evil blood mage's plan to destroy all the lycans can only be stopped by a turncoat mage and a rogue lycan...

Tropes: shifter, opposites attract, forced proximity, evil enemies, kidnapping

Overall Rating:  4/5

GRR Reviews Taming the Beast: Book 5 of the True Ma by Alicia Montgomery

Taming The Beast managed to throw a new wrinkle into the Lycan and Witches vs. Blood Mages war with yet another pair of true mates, from a very unexpected direction!

Shy and nerdy Lycan scientist Dr. Jade Cross does research for the Fenrir Corporation, which is a cover company for the New York clan of Lycans (werewolves, wolf-shifters, whatever you call them). She lives a quiet genius life and buried her wolf so deep she can no longer shift. When she was kidnapped one day, Fenrir called in reinforcements in the form of Creed Security, headed by Sebastian Creed and his crew of security specialists to help rescue Dr. Cross. Sebastian found himself drawn to Dr. Cross, and the feeling is mutual, yet both denied their calls. For Sebastian knew there is a beast locked inside him, and he did not dare to let the beast out. But when the evil blood mages came up with another gambit to destroy the Lycans, the Lycans formed a plan to counterattack that involved Dr. Cross, Sebastian, and a mage who claimed he switched sides...

Lots of actions, lots of secrets, lots of angst, for Sebastian's secret shall be revealed. Which will not be spoiled here. Both have denied their true nature for too long, and that is the struggle they have to endure together. For they are indeed each other's true mate. Definitely a thumbs up.

Category: Paranormal / Romantic Suspense

Primary Plot: lycan scientist fell for the gruffy security specialist who rescued her, but both are hiding secrets. When the evil blood mages attack, both will realize their true callings

Tropes: kidnapping, fated mate, conspiracy, evil enemies

Overall Rating:  4/5

GRR Reviews To Save A Mate: Somewhere, TX Saga (Vo by Krystal Shannan

To Save A Mate by Krystal Shannan is a good variation on the shifter romance, by making it about sacrifice first, and love later.

Kara McClure lost everything in a single night. Her parents had just died in a car crash, and just as she's seeking solace, she found her boyfriend muff diving on her sorority sister. Stumbling in the dark, she walked into the path of a truck... Luke VonBrandt had watched Kara from afar since high school, but he's not the kind to butt into her life uninvited. But when he ran her over with his truck... He used his once-in-a-lifetime bonding spell to pour his essence into her... to save her life. He's a werewolf, and the bonding spell was supposed to be for bond mates... Luke is risking his one chance in life for completion to give life to a girl... who may not love him back.

Very angst-y, as Kara is now bonded to Luke, but not completely. You can probably guess they will get their HEA at the end, but there is a lot of mistrust and learning for someone to learn about the family, including all its secrets. My main problem is there were quite a few bits of the story that's a bit too... expository, and Kara's cheating BF didn't get enough karma. But this is an interesting variation on on the werewolf romance genre.

Category: Paranormal

Primary Plot: Shifter just used his bonding spell on a girl who may not love him back... in order to save her.

Tropes: secret world, shifter, forced proximity, fated mate

Overall Rating:  4/5 (rounded up)

GRR Reviews The Right to Bear Arms (Wild Operatives by Vivienne Savage

The Right to Bear Arms is a standard "strong protector" romance with the proviso that the protector is a bear shifter. However, there are some serious logical problems when it comes to the actual protection, that brought it back down to "mediocre".

Daniela Reyes finally divorced her abusive husband after he turned the house down. She took the settlement money from insurance and went somewhere remote to start over. She did not want to fall for the attractive widower Russ just down the lane. The black bear that visits her backyard seems to be the only distraction... Russell Hawkins is indeed a southern boy with charm, and a widower. He has retired from the service but occasionally gets called out on special assignments that required his... special talents. Falling for the voluptuous divorcee down the road was not in the cards because he's a werebear... AND the black bear that roamed her yeard. But he can't tell her yet... Until her evil ex came back... crazier than ever...

It takes no imagination to see Russ goes all protective bear mode... That's where the problem is. However, to explain this, I have to spoil the story.

SPOILER AHEAD

YOU'VE BEEN WARNED

Russ, who's supposed to be ex spec ops, was unable to disarm one thuggish ex abuser, in either bear form OR human form! He basically goes up to the ex, roars, and get shot multiple times! That is just... stupid! That of course, sets up the reveal ("Yes, I am your bear.") but really, that was REALLY forced. The romance is okay, but that major lapse in logic, IMHO, really ruined the story.

Category: Paranormal / Romantic Suspense

Primary Plot: Werebear fell for the new divorcee in town, and had to protect her from her crazy ex.

Tropes: disguise, shifter, protector, woman in peril, evil ex

Overall Rating: 3/5

GRR Reviews Wilde Bear (Blue Bear Rescue Book 1) by Heather Hildenbrand

Wilde Bear is a contemporary "shifter" romance featuring a bunch of bear shifters (and people knowing they are shifters) doing search and rescue duty. It is somewhat interesting, but the nebulous threat of a nemesis out to ruin them just rings hollow.

Xavier Wilde and his crew at Blue Bear Search and Rescue are bear-shifters best suited for work in the mountains, saving lives. He dedicated himself to this job, after losing his father on these mountains during a rescue while he was in town looking for a good time. He swore off women ever since, but the new DOT liaison Laurel may change his mind... There's something about her that is different... and soon Laurel revealed herself to be a fox shifter... and the two fell for each other hard. But neither was prepared to share all of their secrets, and the team apparently attracted an enemy... someone who wanted to ruin the team for some reason...

In this universe, shifters can be "outed" (i.e. you can openly be a shifter) but it is as if it's a disease, or like being LGBT... it was discriminated against (i.e. a lot of people have a negative view of shifters). But somehow this wasn't quite used to the full effect. Laurel was brought up to hide her fox self as much as possible, and hanging with the Wilde crew sorta set her free. But what does Department of Transportation have to do with a search and rescue team's audit, I have no clue. Some of the plot and background just makes no sense to me.

Category: Paranormal

Primary Plot: Bear-shifter rescue squad in the mountains gets a new liaison who's hiding her true nature; she's a fox shifter...

Tropes: shifter, different worlds, co-worker, secret world, family secrets

Overall Rating:  3/5

GRR Reviews Blaze (BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance) by Terra Wolf

Blaze is a short (under 100 pages) shifter romance that relied on an initial schtick: mistaken identity. The story doesn't really have much of a plot after the schtick though.

Reagan's sister Sadie just got married in Alaska after falling in love in Alaska with the bear-shifter Diesel. Reagan fancied after one of the two remaining Grizzly Brothers (triplets), Blaze and Hunter. Reagan prefers Hunter, but in her drunk state (right after the wedding celebration) she propositioned the wrong brother, Blaze by mistake. However, with bear-shifters, once you mate, you do so for life. And Blaze will have to convince her that he was her future...

Basically, Reagan didn't realize her mistake for a while, even though she's not "marked" by her mate (apparently bear-shifters bite shoulders of their mate to "mark" them permanently) while Blaze was slowly going insane, wanting Reagan but not sure how to explain the circumstances. Eventually they figured it out, of course. But the "wrong guy" schtick wore off quickly.

Category: Paranormal

Primary Plot: Sister to the newly married found herself attracted to one of the remaining two brothers... but propositioned the wrong one!

Tropes: shifter, mistaken identity, traingle, sibling triangle, disguise, fling to a thing

Overall Rating:  3/5

GRR Reviews One True Mate 1: Shifter's Sacrifice by Lisa Ladew

One True Mate 1 was an interesting variation on the shifter romance genre, with a good bit of world building to explain this particular variation. The romance was slightly forced, and the evil a bit too conveniently... slippery. The world-building was excellent, as it managed to build upon the normal true-mate wolf-shifter lore, but also throw in some angel and demon, as well as feline and dragon shifters. The romance itself, however, was only lukewarm, as it was pretty much predestined. But first, let's discuss the world.

Unknown to the general populace, the world is full of shifters, but the shifters have a major... propagation problem. Years ago, the demon Khain managed to accomplished the Great Reaping... He managed to kill 99.9% of the female shifters. Now the male shifters have nobody to mate with, and shifters are in danger of going extinct. But the prophesies foretold the arrival of One True Mates, who are half-angel and half-human, and capable of mating with shifters and producing offsprings. The Wolven has a special task force in the Serenity Police Department dedicated to track down Khain, but due to his dimension portals, he can appear and disappear almost at will. As Trevor tried to follow Khain, they found that Khain is after a girl named Gabriela "Ella" Carmi, who may be a One True Mate. Ella was aware of an evil presence following her around, and her special ability allowed her to escape (that only came out under pressure), but she had no family left, and no one to care for her, until Trevor took her in, because Trevor knew that she was his. When Khain took Ella's sister then Ella, the Wolven must call in help from the last Dragon shifter and Feline-shifters to mount a rescue operation...

The talk about One True Mate, predestined, is about faith and prophecy and all that. So it's in a way, both spiritual and paranormal, and it even has influences of angels and demons. The characters and plot are actually pretty average. But the pretty grand world they inhabit was interesting, and the characters that will be inhabiting the later novels were not just hung on as accessories, but are minor parts of the plot. Still, the romance seems to be more about predestiny than actual love.

Category: Paranormal

Primary Plot: Good world building in this variation on shifter story, but characterization and plot are merely average

Tropes: shifter, different worlds, secret worlds, law enforcement, protector, woman in peril

Overall Rating:  3/5

GRR Reviews Hunter (BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter R by Terra Wolf

Generally, in a Shifter-n-normal love story there is a bit of subterfuge, at least at the beginning, so there was a moment of surprise when the female found that her beau was a "scary" shifter. This book did not use this formula, but instead, launched into a disappointingly vague and third-person narrative about how the FMC, Capri, already knew that her beau, Hunter is a bear-shifter so there was no secret to discover. Instead, this book is basically Hunter being stubbornly denying his attraction to her. and she stubbornly refusing to let go. He obviously succumbs by the end but really, it's not a "struggle" if he simply decides "okay, I do like her".

Denying the love for another is can be romantic if done right, as the denial is tinged with admiration, then finally acceptance. This is not one of those. What you end up with is "wait, so he changed his mind, and that's it?"  Eh...

Category: Paranormal contemporary

Primary Plot:  Woman wants bear-shifter, bear-shifter does NOT want woman... so he says...

Tropes: shifter, enemies to lover

Overall Rating:  2/5

GRR Reviews Fated Mates: Book 1 of True Mates by Alicia Montgomery

Fated Mates, being the first volume in the True Mates series, managed to introduce a world without being wordy by making the book action oriented and the background incidental relying on werewolf tropes. However, some of the events were almost superfluous, and the attraction between FMC and MMC chalked up too much to fate, as he was the first to confront her.

The Fenrir Corporation, one of the most powerful in the nation, is merely a front of the Wolfshifters (or Lycans, if you will) that had been among us for centuries. And Alynna Chase, private investigator, suddenly found herself smack in the middle of Lycan clan when her heritage was revealed during visit to a Lycan club... by Alex Westbrooke, Lycan security detail of the club. Alynna is actually 100% Lycan, which means she was a true mate offspring between her human mother and Lycan Alpha father. Forced by circumstances to join the Lycan society, Alynna felt inexplicably drawn to Alex, now assigned to her security detail. Alex was also drawn to Alynna, but knows that he can never have her. He is a newcomer to the clan and merely a bodyguard. When a new threat to the clan threatened Alynna and forced Alex to get closer, Alex will do anything to protect Alynna, even if it means he must challenge the Lycan hierarchy for her love.

The attraction between the two was not as well explained. It wasn't until the end of the book that it was revealed that true mates have a special scent that each other can detect. The threat to Lycans was so... nebulous and secretive here that it never was explained well. Few realized they were under attack until near the end. The pretty tame "coming out" party for Alynna for the Council was where the attack took place. For bodyguard love type novel, mixing in Lycans turned out quite well.

Category: Contemproary / Paranormal / Romantic Suspense

Primary Plot: A girl suddenly found herself focal point of Lycan society, and attracted to a guy she was not supposed to want

Tropes: protector, woman in peril, fated mate, different worlds, shifter, disguise

Overall Rating:  4/5

GRR Reviews Diesel (BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Ro by Terra Wolf

Diesel is a light BBW paranormal shifter romance. There really wasn't much of a conflict other than the FMC, Sadie not realizing her beau, Diesel, was a bear shifter, even though she knew there's something strange. about him.

Sadie was visiting her sister Reagan in Alaska when she ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere, and she fainted when she saw a bear approaching her. She woke up in someone's wood cabin, with all her clothes on. And a very handsome guy came in... her rescuer, who called himself Diesel, and he's very shy. He also has two brothers, Hunter and Blaze, and together they are known as the Grizzly Brothers. Diesel took her to her sister's place, but they got very very frisky, then her sister and his brothers came back! Sadie knew it's fun to imagine a life with Diesel, but she's heading back to her life in a week or two. Diesel knew she is his intended mate, but how does one convince a girl that her lover is a bear-shifter that once scared her to a faint? Other than the "how do I tell her" there wasn't really much of the darkest hour, though Diesel attempting to ride in a puddle-jumper to mainland US (trying to convince Sadie to come back) would count as a grand gesture (though it's futile, but for why, you'll have to read the book).

It's a fun little quick read, but there's just not too much struggle in the book. Nor did the girl have a particular BBW issue.

Category: Paranormal / Contemporary

Primary Plot: Shy bear-shifter fell for young woman visiting her sister in town, except she faints at the sight of a bear...

Tropes: insta-lust, disguise, protector, small town, shifter

Overall Rating:  3/5

GRR Reviews WEREBEAR'S MAIL ORDER MATE by Candace Ayers

What are the chances that mail order bride, ordered by a bear-shifter's adopted 10-year old daughter, turned out to be his one true mate? Probably gazillion to one. What are the chances that she'll stay... if he revealed himself to be a bear shifter? Impossible to calculate! How much fun would it be to read about this adventure? A lot! That's the gist of the story.

Chloe is 10 and wants a mommy that she'd never had. She also decided that her dad Tanner was too gruff at times, and she's tired of eating pork chops (the only thing Tanner knew how to make). So she fished his credit card out of his drawer and went online as him to order a mail order bride. Elsewhere in the country, Heather, who got kicked to the curb after her father died, and his (now ex-) fiancee had taken over the firm. Heather had no employment history (he wanted her to stay at home and join him at functions only), no savings, and no life skills. AND she could not bear children. So when a mail order bride wanted ad came from Wyoming, she jumped at it. She'd love to join a family already with children... And Chloe is a lovely kid. And she can cook. AND Tanner is one heck of a beefcake... But Tanner has that secret, and he can't control himself around her... the one true mate... One sniff of her, and he'll... he'll...

It's certainly a high concept, and quite funny! And Tanner's need to keep his... uh... predilections a secret is quite good! There's more than a few "No! That wasn't what I meant!" moments, which is again, good for comedic and melodramatic effect. It is a pretty short novella at just over 100 pages though. (But there are many other bonus stories included, more than a couple hundred pages' worth, inflating the book to 1400 pages!)

All in all, I find I rather enjoy the novella to give it a higher than average rating.

Category: Paranormal

Primary Plot: daughter of a shapeshifter dad ordered him a mail order bride, and she turned out to be his true mate.

Tropes: fated lover, single parent, scars, mail order bride, shifter

Overall Rating:  4/5 (rounded up from 3.5/5)

GRR Review Her Fierce Warrior by Paige Tyler

Her Fierce Warrior, Book 4 in the X-OPS series, is about the X-OPS team (operatives of the Department of Covert Operations) trying to find the unethical researchers conducting illegal experiments on humans to create artificial shifters: shifters that were not born that way.

A special forces team in the countryside of Tajikistan when they came across a girl in the middle of an abattoir of dead men... the girl was was a new shifter, and only by accident, they found that Angelo, the big burly guy in the SF Team, was able to calm her down, else she'll slice and dice anyone near her. Whisked back to the states on priority transport, practically in Angelo's lap, DCO eventually learned that the girl was Minka, and she escaped from a lab within a couple days' walk where she was found, and she can speak English, Tajik, and Russian just fine. After a bit of training and exposure to DCO operatives (and form a pretty permanent bond with Angelo), Minka and Angelo were reunited with the SF team along with some other shifters from DCO to track down and attack the lab in hopes of capturing the two doctors...

Minka basically described her rage (which triggers her shifting) as a monster inside, and it was after much coaching at DCO that she finally learned how to control her shifting and learn how to tap her abilities at will. My problem with this novel is "it just happens" that Angelo can calm her down, and it wasn't explained if Angelo has any special abilities himself (as far as this book is concerned, he's not a shifter) and given the size of the final battle there didn't seem to be enough assets in place.

Category: Romantic suspense

Primary Plot: a violent and new shifter was discovered, and only one man can calm her. Now they need to find the evil lab that created her... 

Trope: woman in peril, military, shifter

Overall Rating:  4/5

GRR Review Hungry Like the Wolf (SWAT Book 1) by Paige Tyler

An interesting variation on the Werewolf Genre, Hungry Like the Wolf cast them as the SWAT team of Dallas Police Department (SWAT here = Special Wolf Alpha Team, hahahaha!)

The Dallas SWAT team are the perfect cops, taking point on the toughest cases against armed men, saving hostages, children, the helpless. They are so squeaky clean that reporter Mackenzie Stone wondered if there's something wrong with them, and she decided to dig, started with the commander Gage Dixon. Gage decided to go with "keep your friends close, but enemies closer" by inviting her in, except once they got close, they got into a relationship that made Gage wonder if he had found "The One" and whether Mackenzie is willing to hurt a lot of people just to publish the truth... when bad guys are coming after them personally.

Gage is fun being the alpha of the pack and crazy in love. Mackenzie, on the other hand, flickers from journalist to lover and back making her difficult to like until the end, where the book fell into the trope of FMC in trouble and MMC must go save her. The action was pretty good.

Category: romantic suspense

Primary Plot: reporter tries to dig up dirt on a bunch of wolf-shifter cops, falls for the commander

Overall Rating:  4/5

GRR Review: Blood Moon by Alicia Montgomery

Blood Moon by Alicia Montgomery is a paranormal romance and 2nd book in the True Mates series, where Lycans, Witches, and such have been a part of humanity for thousands of years. The book is quite enjoyable and the world-building was quite good.

Cady Gray was the top human liaison with the Lycan clan of New York, but she has a terrible secret that she had been trying to hide all her life, and has a secret crush on the clan's beta, Nick Vrost. Nick is heir to the Vrost fortune, and 2nd in command in the clan, and he had also lusted after Cady for years, but held back for his clan, as it's more suitable for him to take a suitable high-ranked Lycan as his mate. When unknown enemies started attacking Lycan interests around New York, and all the evidence points to Cady, Vrost must figure out Cady's secrets and choose between his desires and welfare of the clan.

I rather enjoyed the world-building as I did not read book 1 so all the world building would be in this book. By building with well-known tales of lycans, witches, and so on yet remixed in an interesting way, the author managed to construct a fantasy world within the contemporary US where magic exists alongside modern tech of cell phone tracing and face recognition. However, the characters are, beyond the secrets Cady was keeping, not that complex. That's why I can't give it full 5/5.

Category: paranormal / romantic suspense

Primary Plot: Woman with secret loves the lycan clan beta; when sabotage pointed to the woman, he must find out her secret before the rest of the clan does...

Tropes:  protector, woman in peril, different worlds, secret world, shifter

Overall Rating:  4/5

GRR Review: Tender Mate by Willow Irons

Tender Mate by Willow Irons was somewhat uneven and resorted to some filler material that are barely relevant. The characters are generally quite shallow. The overall story is charming enough and the theme was not too heavy-handed, but I don't feel the link between the two was sufficiently established.

Cassandra, a bit heavy-set, decided to celebrate her losing some pounds with a nature hike with a group in a national park. During the hike, an accident left her stranded in the wilderness and she was saved by a stranger called Darius, who turned out to be a mountain lion shifter, and they fell for each other. When Darius tried to return her to civilization, they were attacked by evil rangers intending to bag a mountain lion as their trophy... 

The romance between Cassandra and Darius is okay, nothing earth-shattering. There is a secondary arc about how Cassandra's body image problem was cured by Darius as well.  The supporting characters are total cardboard pieces, however. The normal rangers didn't do anything except make random observations, and the evil rangers well, are just evil. The only two interesting supporting characters was Cassandra's super-bossy sister and her suffering husband, but they almost took over a chapter or two.

I have a bit of problem about the ending, which I will not spoil. I'll just say it sounds sweet, but it doesn't quite feel right.

Category: Paranormal

Primary Plot: Woman stranded in the wilderness fell for the mountain lion shifter that rescued her and claimed her as his true mate. Then evil rangers attacked...

Tropes: BBW, shifter, woman in peril, protector

Overall Rating: 3/5