Review: Forbidden by Fate - Kristin Miller

Forbidden By Fate

Sasha, a love-thirsty werewolf and rightful heir to the Were throne, is ready to take control over her pack. But when her first love, dragon shifter Damon Frost, lands on her doorstep, demanding their races negotiate ownership over Feralon’s hot springs, he makes her question more than the fight for the enchanted neutral ground. No matter the emotions bubbling inside her, Sasha can’t become involved with Damon. Not now. Not ever again.

Forbidden to step foot onto Were land after a romp with the Were Alpha’s daughter as a teenager, Damon Frost has bided his time, waiting for the day when he’d be accepted back onto Were land. Using the hot spring negotiation as a way to get closer to Sasha, Damon plans to use every minute alone to remind her of the passion they shared—a passion they could ignite again.

One night of ecstasy stands between them and the fight for the springs. One night of revealing glances, skin searing chemistry, and erotic desires they’d long buried.

Will one taste of forbidden love be enough to satiate their desires? Or will the need to explore the depths of their love unleash a Were-Draco war?

When I saw the words dragon shifter on the blurb, I knew I had to read this. Dragons, well, there's a soft spot.

This is an explicit romance between a werewolf princess (sort of) and a dragon shifter. Sasha and Damon are of two different, hostile races, but they manage to find love in the neutral territory on the island of Feralon. When Sasha becomes of age and a full pack member, her father the Alpha forbids her from seeing Damon ever again. Years later when that neutral territory might cease to be neutral, they meet again and reconnect.

What has Damon been doing all these years, and how has Sasha fared with the potential mates thrust upon her?

This time I was expecting it, I swear I was. So, when the story starts with a steamy sex scene, I'm thinking yes, oh yes but-but-but--it's a dream. Phew!

Anonymous trysts aren't for me, I truly need to know more about the characters to enjoy it. And that's my main problem with this novella. Most of the sex is at the beginning or at least in the first half of the book. The plot and characterisations aren't addressed until later in the text at which point I'm finally diving into the world.

I like that Damon shifts into a real dragon instead of some pathetic dragon human hybrid (I've read one of those), and I like the fact that Sasha is expected to take over as Alpha after her father. This of course doesn't stop the men of the pack from dreaming of a coup through mating with her, but these aspects are only hinted at. I'm not so sure about one of the other pack aspects, according to which an Alpha can only force a pack member to obey his orders after they've turned eighteen.

We don't get to see nearly enough of the dragon side of the island for my liking, and the third race, Merfolk, are only mentioned in passing. The world building was disappointing in a sense that I wanted to know more. There simply wasn't room for it, but I wanted it explored further.

What there was room for, was roughly divided into three parts: sex, reclaiming their relationship, and the hostilities between the two races. In that order. I thought Miller struck the balance between the three quite well, but I still think the sex should have come after.

Series:         N/A
Pages:          87 (pdf)
Publisher:      Harlequin
Imprint:         Harlequin Cravings
Published:      July 1st 2012
Source:          Lit Connect

Note from Blodeuedd: Come back on Wednesday when Rameau interviews Kristin

ARC Review: Moonglow - Kristen Callihan

Once the seeds of desire are sown . . .
Finally free of her suffocating marriage, widow Daisy Ellis Craigmore is ready to embrace the pleasures of life that have long been denied her. Yet her new-found freedom is short lived. A string of unexplained murders has brought danger to Daisy's door, forcing her to turn to the most unlikely of saviors . . .


Their growing passion knows no bounds . . .
Ian Ranulf, the Marquis of Northrup, has spent lifetimes hiding his primal nature from London society. But now a vicious killer threatens to expose his secrets. Ian must step out of the shadows and protect the beautiful, fearless Daisy, who awakens in him desires he thought long dead. As their quest to unmask the villain draws them closer together, Daisy has no choice but to reveal her own startling secret, and Ian must face the undeniable truth: Losing his heart to Daisy may be the only way to save his soul.

This review will contain small spoilers for Firelight and Moonglow.



Six months ago--has it really been that long?--I read and reviewed the first of Kristen Callihan's Darkest London novels, Firelight. I might have complained a lot in my review, but the truth is that her story left an indelible mark. That's why when I saw Moonglow on NetGally I clicked the little request button and sat on my crossed fingers until I was accepted.

Well, not literally, but you get the sentiment.

It's turn for the second Ellis sister, Daisy, to find her freedom and happiness after a year of widowhood. She's making do with her own special gift after her late husband left her destitute and embracing her basic desires when she stumbles on a dead body and is attacked. That's when Lord Ian Ranulf, Marquis of Northrup, picks her up and whisks her to the safety of his home. There are many obstacles on their way to happiness not least of which is his fascination with her sister, Miranda.

I liked the demons and the fire starter in the first book, and in this one we get to see the some of lore explored further. Daisy and her sisters are elementals. This made my poor physicist heart ache because, although, I could accept earth and fire as the elements worshipped in the past, mixing it with ice made no sense to me. Poppy controlling water in all four of its states--ice=solid, water=liquid, steam=vapour, plasma--would have been more logical.

Truth is I'm jealous of Callihan's imagination. She's taking these known myths and legends and making them hers with an unexpected twist. She's always surprising me, which isn't easy to do these days. I might not understand the need for splitting werewolves and lycans into two and making the myth sound somewhat contrived, but I can appreciate the story it gave me. Ian learning to live again and embracing all the feelings he'd been hiding from so long was a joy to read. I cared less about Daisy, but at least she never truly irritated me. Her choice in the end was something I saw coming from early on, but the manner of it reduced a certain lore aspect to a mere plot point. Or that's what I'm going to assume until Callihan expands on it in another book.

Where Firelight was more about a mystery and a marriage of convenience, Moonglow is about emotions such as fear, regret, and loneliness. There's a mystery too, but not for its own sake. It's about the characters and their reactions.

Overall, Moonglow is more polished a novel than Firelight and the raw talent it showed. I could see Callihan's growth as a writer on the page. The sex scenes where actually sexy--huge part of it was the delayed gratification--and I never got the feeling that they simply didn't fit. The descriptions were more to the point, though, I'd appreciate a fewer mentions of sinew and cord-like muscles. There also was the unfortunate use of word globes and something called a Gaelic shrug. Callihan has yet to hit the perfect balance on implied accent, but she had the decency of use it sparsely.

As I'm incapable of proper squeeing or oohing and aahing, I'll let the rating speak for itself.

4 

I received an Advanced Readers Copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

Series:           Darkest London #2

Pages:          327 (epub ARC)

Publisher:      Grand Central Publishing

Imprint:         Forever

ISBN:           9781455508587

Published:      expected, July 31st 2012

Source:          NetGalley, Publisher

Flash Fiction Friday on Saturday, now with more stories

Every Monday Dottie over at Tink's Place posts a picture and then on Friday (Flash Fiction Friday) we post a story to go along with the picture. The story has to be about 350 words, give or take.  

As I have been bad and missed 2 weeks! I am now catching up with 3 stories.

(pic has been removed: )

No cure for a Broken Heart

by Blodeuedd

Sometimes not even love could save you. But then why should that save you? Love only brought destruction and broken hearts, and hips widen by clinging babies. It brought sorrow and dead dreams. Death and pain.

Elizebeta screamed and threw cups and plates around her. They broke but they did not take away the pain she held in her heart. She sank to the floor and clutched the answer in her hand. The thing that would take away this pain that tore apart her soul. The pain that made her want to cry and shout, and most of all smash that bitch’s head in with a chair. But the anger always gave way to the pain and that was one thing she could not handle. It was numbing, it was nauseating, it was destructive. 

But that was love. Sweet sweet love. And it had been sweet, oh so sweet. They had been childhood sweethearts and they had promised each other forever. First kiss, first hug, first moment of utter passion. Their families had been happy to see them together; she even had his damn portrait in her room. And when she turned 18 the wedding was to take place. But Ronan had said he wanted a tour of the Southern Lands first, so she waited. Then he wanted a season in town, so she waited again. As he said that he wanted her to stay where she was so that no one stole her away. What nonsense. It was during that year it had happened. A whirl wind romance with a rich heiress. Elizebeta’s family had lands and titles, but never that much money. And now Ronan would get all that he ever wanted.  He had not even broken the news to her in person, instead he sent his poor mother. Elizabeta had sat still and wondered if it all was a bad dream. Even after his mother had left she sat there still and wondered if she was crazy. But after the shock wore off the pain and anger started. And now he was getting married, taking all her dreams with her. So she took the little vial she hold and knew she would feel pain no more.

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The Old Ones

by Blodeuedd

They said that sometimes your deepest nightmares would come to your in the light of day. And when Roselyn stood before the tree she believed it to be true. She had found one of the Pillars of the Past. The women broken and tortured and made into trees by the Will of The People. The cult that had taken over these fair lands and made them worship the One God and not the Goddess who gave them rain and fertility. Instead the One God who gave them war and urged them to take over other countries and kill until those bent their knees to the True God. But she had never heard HIS voice. The priests said they heard him but sometimes she wondered if that truly was true. Yes she bent her knee in Chapel like the rest of her family but she just never could believe. Maybe because she held a secret deep in her heart and seeing this tree it all surfaced. She feared ending up like these women and even today, 100 years after the fall women were still burned and killed. Women she knew were innocent, women turned on by jealous neighbors or angry husbands. No one was safe anymore, the masses ruled and the masses were not kind.

She sank to her knees and looked upon the tree. What she would not give to free one of the old priestesses. To confess that she heard the Goddess in her head, to ask for guidance and what to do about the magic she felt stirring inside of herself. But she had no one to ask. This was not the time for women; this was the rule of Men. So she stood up, took her basket filled with mushrooms and started her way back home. She did look back once and saw the tree sway in the wind, beckoning her to come back. But she could not for if anyone saw her she would be taking to the Questioner at once and that was not something you wanted. She shivered and pulled her coat closer around her. Never that.

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Steampunk Fairy

by Blodeuedd

Steam came and took over the lands. The trees fell, the magic lost its charm and the critters big and small went to hide deep in the woods. The old ways were lost by a way of iron, steam and might tracks dug deep into the womb of mother earth. Not much stood when the factories, mines and mines had been raised all over. Sure there were old woods here and there, but not as much as before, and there would not be ever again. Even the Earth herself knew so, these ants on her tummy were taking over and they destroyed as much as they built new. Because what they built was not for her, or the ones she cherished. As for the ants, they would learn that what they built was not for them either in the end.

Kora did hate the Big Ones but at the same time she was grateful that a clockmaker had once found her, with broken winds, smashed in a window. He had nursed her back to health and made the most delicate wings for her. Her own wings of steel and she flew and flew and never grew tired. But she was not happy and even if the old clockmaker wanted her to stay she said that she had to leave and find her people, if any were left.

She flew over house and hill until she found what she was looking for. The car which had killed her wings, the human who had seen her on the window and done nothing. So she landed on a windowsill and looked in. All cozy and sweet. A family around a table and she  clawed with her tiny nails on the window. Never anger a fairy.

The next day when he went to work she followed him and with a little fairydust in his eyes he could no longer see and lost control of his car. And there is where she still was. Sitting on his skull, laughing even after his corpse had rotted and his car sunken into the deep of a swamp.

-----------------------------

yes I went all dark today ;)

Review: The Fires of Heaven - Robert Jordan

...Into the forbidden city of Rhuidean, where Rand al’Thor, now the Dragon Reborn, must conceal his present endeavor from all about him, even Egwene and Moiraine.

...Into the Amyrlin’s study in the White Tower, where the Amyrlin, Elaida do Avriny a’Roihan, is weaving new plans.

...Into the luxurious hidden chamber where the Forsaken Rahvin is meeting with three of his fellows to ensure their ultimate victory over the Dragon.

...Into the Queen’s court in Caemlyn, where Morgase is curiously in thrall to the handsome Lord Gaebril.

For once the dragon walks the land, the fires of heaven fall where they will, until all men’s lives are ablaze.

And in Shayol Ghul, the Dark One stirs...

My thoughts:

Ok time to say something clever again, 5th book, all almost 1000 pages it seems. It just gets harder to harder to review this series, not to mention since I have already read it before too.

Starting to like good old Rand again but Mat is still such a favorite. I like the memories in his head and how he becomes something more. And still such a rascal.

Hey, where was Perrin!?

Nyn and Elayne was all over the world doing their stuff. And obsessing over Rand much?

Min, Siuan and Leane, I did like these three together and especially when they get into trouble.

Egwene still bores me.

Ok, is there any POV I am missing? Aviendha, I just wish she could stop talking about protecting Rand for Elayne. Come on woman! You are from a culture where women share a man anyway.

So lots of POVS, duh. Exciting things happening, like the Aiel leaving the Waste. War coming. Rand learning about Saidar. And much much more.

Conclusion:

I can stop reading at a page and jump back 2 weeks later. That is how well I know this series by now.True love.

Cover:

Lol, Rand's coat. He looks so weird.

Series: Wheel of Time #5
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 989
Published: 1993 by TOR
Source: Own