Stealing Innocents by Cari Waites

This is a review of Stealing Innocents by Cari Waites. It is a collection that consists of three short stories. I was able to read the first 2 stories in this book but was not able to bring myself to read the third story in the book. The first story was just not my cup of tea. It was twisted and not just one I enjoyed. The second wasn't much better. I couldn't even bring myself to read beyond this point so I can't comment on the rest of the book. My recommendation is just to skip this one altogether.

The Backup by Erica Kudisch

This is a review of The Backup by Erica Kudisch. This is one of those books that just leaves you speechless and not in a good way. This story is very dark which is something I normally don't mind but I think this one carried it too far. I will have nightmares about this book.  I wanted to put it down before I finished it but it was gripping enough where I had to keep reading. I normally give a summary of the book at this point but this book was so disturbing so I won't be giving a summary of this one. This was the first book by Erica Kudisch that I read and I definitely won't be reading any more by her. This one is one not worth the nightmares it will give you.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Desire & Ice ( A Mackenzie Family Novella) by Christopher Rice

This is a review of Desire & Ice by Christopher Rice. Desire & Ice is a Mackenzie Family novella. The Mackenzie Family is a creation of author of Liliana Hart. This is a stand alone story set in the town of Surrender, Montana.  Even though set in the world of the Mackenzie Family this story is not directly about the Mackenzie Family however we will see a brief appearance of a member of the Mackenzie Family. 

We are introduced to a young sheriff's deputy named Danny Patterson. Danny had a crush on his high school English teacher, Eliza who left town after her marriage. Several years later, Eliza returns to Surrender. She believes that she is doing her ex husband a favor by going to his family's property in Surrender. She is in search of money to help her ex-husband out of a jam that she believes he has gotten into.

Danny has a feeling that Eliza is in town running from something. He goes to investigate and Eliza and Danny are chased by killers who are after Eliza. Danny and Eliza take off through the woods trying to elude the killers and end up spending the night together in a hunter's cabin that Danny knows the location of. 

They are found the next morning by Sheriff Cooper Mackenzie who tells them that the killers chasing them are dead and he tells Danny the real story about why Eliza is in Surrender. Once the situation about why Eliza came to Surrender is resolved, Eliza settles into a new life and love with Danny.

Desired by the Dragon (The Awakening Cycle) by James D. Horton

This is a review of Desired by the Dragon by James D. Horton. This is Remy's and Sarissa's story. I highly recommend reading this one after the Loving Two Dragons quartet but before reading the Elise Ddraig trilogy.

We learn Remy's story in this book. Remy is a dragon shifer and the Chosen One from his age. He fails in his quest to defeat the Agent of Chaos and therefore his home(the city of Atlantis) is lost forever.

Remy is trying to find a way to save Elise because Elise is a very powerful shifter as a 3 year old child. He learns that she is the Chosen One of her age and that she fulfills a prophecy. It's hard to explain much about this book without giving the whole story away. Remy finds a way for Elise to be born as a dragon but it magically ages her from a young child to a teenager.

Loving Two Dragons (Books 1-4) (The Awakening Cycle) by James D. Horton

This is a review of Loving Two Dragons by James D. Horton.

Mr. Horton is fast becoming a favorite author of mine and he has truly created a magnificent, magical world that I look forward to reading more about.

Ideally, these books should be read before the Elise Ddraig Chosen series. This is a series of  four novellas that need to be read in order. They are all available for sell individually and also as a book where all four novellas are combined into one longer book.

By reading this series first you get the story of Elise's parents (Archer, Jennifer, and Logan). It will also fill in some gaps in the Chosen series.

Archer Ddraig is the king of the Gold Dragon Clan. The first knight of the realm is Logan Dracul. Jennifer Aguillon is their queen. Jennifer is the glue that holds Archer and Logan together. Archer and Logan have a deep friendship but neither will admit their love for the other.  Jennifer has lived many lives and is doomed to die every time at the same age unless they can find a way to save here. Archer and Logan repeatedly have to endure her loss and it is their grief over losing Jennifer each time that binds them together tighter than they realize. Once they realize that Jennifer has come back to them again a desperate battle ensues where they will try to save her once again. They have to find a way to save her while battling psychotic dragon shifters on several occasions in several different circumstances. Jennifer realizes that in order for her to survive and live her life with both men whom she loves equally that herself, Archer, and Logan must be united as one instead of being together with each one of them separately. Jennifer is able to break the cycle of her death to live her live with Logan and Archer. They are also blessed with a child that Jennifer realizes is the Chosen One that will fulfill a prophecy.

Dance of Desire (A 1001 Dark Nights Novella) by Christopher Rice

This a review of Dance of Desire (A 1001 Dark Nights Novella) by Christopher Rice.  I fell in love with Christopher Rice's writing several books ago and his latest work does not disappoint. I will forever be a die-hard Christopher Rice fan. This book comes highly recommended.

Amber Watson wants a man she doesn't think she can have. The only man she has ever wanted is her adopted brother Caleb. Caleb and Amber met and fell in love as kids. Tragedy struck and Caleb was left an orphan. Amber's father decided to adopt Caleb since Caleb basically didn't have any family other than an aunt that didn't exactly lead a very desirable life. Amber's father knew how the two felt about each other and decided to put an end to it because he felt it was just a teenage infatuation and that it would burn out on it's own. It never did. Fast forward to 12 years later and Amber is coming out of a failed marriage and a soon to be ex-husband that is trying to take her father's business away from her. Caleb shows up on the scene and he handles the situation like an expert and manages to save the family business from Amber's soon to be ex-husband. He is still in love with Amber and she with him. Amber is planning on going to the Desire Exchange which is where her deepest sexual fantasy is supposed to be revealed to her. Her mother puts a stop to this by informing Caleb and his jealousy and desire for Amber keeps her from going because he is her deepest desire. She goes to confront her mother but is waylaid by Caleb where the two finally give into their desire for each other. Caleb decides to nullify the adoption and take his own name back. He becomes the new co-owner of the bar with Amber and they get their happily ever after.

Exposed: A British Bad Boy Romance by Sennah Tate

This is a review of Exposed: A British Bad Boy Romance by Sennah Tate.  I absolutely love the cover of this book and I throughly enjoyed the book as well. I highly recommend this one. This is definitely a 5 star read! This is not my first book by Sennah Tate and it won't be my last. Sennah Tate is one of those authors that you will definitely want to watch out for because she is definitely making a name for herself with books like this one! Well done, Ms. Tate!

In Exposed, we meet Jasper Wild.  Jasper Wild is your classic tattoed, dominant, bad boy, womanizing, rich, playboy chef.  Suzette Quincy is a reporter working for a local tabloid and she is handed the chance of a lifetime to interview Jasper Wild. Suzette finds that Jasper is not exactly the most cooperative. He is more interested in adding Suzette to his lists of female conquests but there is something about her that he just can't resist. He can't seem to stay away from her and she can't seem to stay away from him. Suzette and Jasper's relationship blows up due to misunderstandings and hurt feelings and Suzette writes an article in which she throughly destroys Jasper's reputation and his career. She decides not to publish the article and instead pens a different article but a co-worker thinks that her original article is the one that should be published. Suzette tries to do damage control but is unable to rectify the situation. Jasper's reputation is in tatters and his new restaurant flops after the article is published.  In the end,  Jasper and Suzette manage to salvage their relationship and get their happily ever after and settle in to a quiet new life with each other.

I recieved an ARC of this book from the lovely Ms. Sennah Tate in exchange for an honest review.

Dragon Fate (Elise Ddraig, Dragon Chosen #3) by James D. Horton

NOTE: I received this book as an advanced reader copy from RomanceARCade so this is a review of that version and not the updated version that the author has recently published on Amazon.

This is a review of Dragon Fate by James D. Horton. This is the third and final book in the Elise Ddraig Dragon Chosen series. I did have a couple of small issues with this book which I will get to in a moment.

For those of you unfamiliar with the series, Elise Ddraig is a female dragon shifter of the Gold Dragon clan. She has also lived a past life and has been reincarnated. Skip forward to the present day and Elise has been magically aged from 3 to 18. She is now 20 years old in this book.  Elise is the only female dragon that can shift. In the world the author has created only male dragons can shift. The only reason Elise can shift is because she is the Chosen One. She is the one that is supposed to battle the chosen Agent of Chaos. If she wins she saves magic in the world, if she loses the battle all the magic in the world dies.

Very early in the book Elise comes home to her apartment after a hard night of patrolling and her boyfriend Lou has a romantic dinner waiting for her.  Lou was Elise's husband before her death and reincarnation. Elise feels that she can't conform to Lou's memories of her because even though she is still Elise she feels that she is not the same Elise that Lou remembers. They have a huge fight over this and Elise storms out of the apartment. She walks for a while until she comes upon a gas station where she goes in to purchase food. While in the gas station she meets a male dragon shifter in this book that she is instantly attracted to. He introduces himself as Matthew. It doesn't take Elise long to realize who Matthew really is.

It is revealed a short while later in the book that Matthew's name is actually Matteas and he is actually the Agent of Chaos that Elise is supposed to battle. Elise and Matthew/Matteas have several more meetings before their final battle. In one of these meetings Elise and Matthew are shown 2 different futures. One of these futures will be what happens if Elise wins the battle. The other is what will be if Matthew wins the final battle. Neither future is a good one. 

There is also a side story going on with Rose and Rory, Elise's werewolf friends where it is revealed that Matthew is one of the villains where he is working with a vampire trying to build an army of super shifter soldiers using specimens harvested from shifters. The army is under Matthew's command. Elise is distracted by a trap that Matthew has set for them where they learn of the army Matthew is amassing. This distraction causes Matthew to be able to attempt to destroy the magic of the island of Afalon. He does not succeed in destroying the magic of Afalon because Remy(Elise's mentor and the Chosen One of his time) takes the magic into himself binding himself to Afalon as the new Lord of Afalon. Elise is on Afalon and realizes it was a distraction technique. She goes to the werewolves and manages to gain their support to take into the final battle with Matthew. The final battle takes place with Matthew at the palace of the Gold Dragon Clan. There are multiple battles with the different players going on in this battle that are all equally important. Elise realizes that their must be another way besides either her winning or Matthew winning the final battle. She realizes that the love that she and Matthew have for each other is the only way. After doing a bit of magic, Elise convinces Matthew of the same. The two decide not to battle each other and unite against the real evil that they are actually battling who turns out to be the evil siblings of Archer, (Elise's father and king of the Gold Dragons). Elise and Matthew end up together in the end. They are also shown a new future of what will be because of the choice they made to be together instead of battling the other. They are shown a world where humans and shifters are living together in perfect harmony and then we see how this future comes to be.

There is a lot more that happens in this story but these are the highlights.

I will say that the book is well written for the most part. I did have a couple of issues with the story. The first issue is that we never really find out Lou's fate. Did they kill him? Were they able to save him? If they weren't able to save him, what happened to him? If they did save him, what happened to him? These are questions that are unanswered. In order to find out what I am talking about you will just have to read this one. The second issue I had with this book was Matthew/Matteas was revealed to be Elise's half-brother. Incestous relationships between blood relatives is just something that I don't care to read about. There is just an ick factor there for me. I don't know if this is something that the author has rectified in the updated version he has released as I have not read the updated version.

Once again, I recieved this book as an advanced reader copy from RomanceARCade so this is a review of that version and not the updated version that the author has recently published on Amazon.

Apologies

Good morning, my friends! I apologize for my delay in posting any new reviews since I have returned from my vacation. I had a wonderful time on my Florida vacation. I have gotten a bit side tracked indulging in a guilty pleasure: the reading of fan fiction. Unfortunately, this has caused me not to be able to get my normal reading in. Some of the upcoming reviews, that I will have for you  will include reviews of Exposed by Sennah Tate and Dragon Fate by James D. Horton. I have already read these so the reviews will be on the way as soon as I can get them typed up.  Reviews that will be coming up in the near future once the author finishes the work will be reviews of the Demon Bonded Series by Sadie Sins. Currently Episodes 5 and 6 are now available but I have chosen to wait until the current story arc wraps up before I post a review of those.