Review of Red Hot Daddy by Austin Bates

 by Austin Bates

2.5 stars

An Mpreg Romance

You never forget your first love… 

Damien King has made a decent life for himself as an Alpha firefighter in his hometown. Drinking with the crew of Engine #15 and picking bar fights with men who insult omegas keeps him from thinking about his past. 

Back in town for a funeral, the last person Tommy Laurence expects to save him from a burning hotel room is his long-lost heartache, Damien. Seeing his old best friend awakens feelings he had sought to forget, or at least they were best friends… until Damien had confessed his love a decade ago. 

Damien can scarcely bear to see Tommy, but the attraction is too intense, and he can’t seem to stay away. A single steamy night between the two becomes a standing appointment. Damien finds himself torn between the pain of the past and the hope for a future, and when Tommy ends up pregnant, the two can no longer pretend to ignore the deep resentments that exist between them. 

Red Hot Daddy, a paranormal firefighter mpreg novel with a side of second chance romance. Not our usual read, but if omega/alpha relationships are your thing, it should be on your TBR list.

What did we enjoy?

- Alpha / Omega:  there is something really great about Damien and Tommy as an alpha/ omega relationship.  Now, this is a non-shifter book, and the first one featuring mpreg that isn’t animal/shifter based, but honestly we didn’t miss the shifter aspect.

- Push and Pull:  We really enjoyed the push and pull of the relationship between Damien and Tommy, it was fun.

What took away from the book?

- Miscommunication and Angst:  Ugh - 10 years of miscommunication.  Really?  And add the angst, so much angst, it was so much and we really wanted these boys to pull their heads out and TALK.  Ugh

- Disjointed story: There was a lot going on in this little book, and we felt it jumped around a bi in plot and them left quite a few cliff-hangers.  Like the hate-crime that the book was centred around just kind of went away???? We ended up skimming just to make it through the inconsistencies.

So, Red Hot Daddy was a miss for us, it is fast-paced easy read, with not a lot of meat to the story.  But, if you are looking for a Red Hot fireman, a sexy omega and a mpreg story without shifting, pick up this second chance romance! 

Review of Wake up Inside me by Cardeno C.

 By Cardeno C.

3.5 Stars

Zev Hassick is surprised and confused when he finds himself attracted to his best friend. His very human, very male best friend. Zev is the son of the pack Alpha, regarded as the strongest wolf in generations, born to lead. And everyone knows a male shifter has to mate with a female of his own kind to keep his humanity. So shifters can't be gay, right?

Jonah Marvel wants a relationship with Zev, his best friend, the man he has loved since childhood. It wasn't easy to maintain that relationship over years spent living apart while Jonah studied to become a doctor. And then things grow more difficult when Jonah becomes his own patient. Before he can make a life with Zev, he has to understand his past and cure the unexplained ailments that plague him.

Zev and Jonah know they're destined for each other, but they're facing traditions ingrained over generations and long-buried secrets that may threaten any future together.

Well, we love Cardeno C., picking up one of these stories you know you are in for a sweet sappy, insta-love story, some work and some don’t but Wake up Inside Me, the first on the Mates Series delivers on all good Cardneo C. things. We aren’t usually fans of shifter stories, but this story of love between an Alpha shifter and a human works in so many ways.

Zev is the Alpha of his pack, and his family is pushing him to claim a mate, but Zev knows that he isn’t like all the other males who crave a female, he is gay.  His childhood best friend Jonah is a regular human, byut Zev knows deep down that they are mates, destined to be together.  This story follows them over many years, from when the meet as children well into adult hood.  It is sweet to see their journey, but a few stops along the way we wish we could move a little faster.  When they finally do get tighter it is great, love, hot-between-the-sheets, and so so good.

There were a few things that created a few ummm moments for us.  Zev keeps Jonah in the dark for 12 years.  They are ‘together’ but not really???  And by in the dark we mean, he doesn’t talk about being the alpha, why he needs to stay in his small town and why they can’t jump between the sheets.  I get about fate, and love and all that, but 12 years for Zev to keep stringing Jonah around seems a little ridiculous, especially if they are really bound as mates. 

But to be honest we are just being picky, we really enjoyed this Wake up Inside Me.  It is a great shifter romance full of all good things in the genre, alpha males, insta-love and hot-between the sheets!

Review of Wolfsong by T.J. Klune

 by T.J. Klune

5 ++++++ Stars

Ox was twelve when his daddy taught him a very valuable lesson. He said that Ox wasn’t worth anything and people would never understand him. Then he left.

Ox was sixteen when he met the boy on the road, the boy who talked and talked and talked. Ox found out later the boy hadn’t spoken in almost two years before that day, and that the boy belonged to a family who had moved into the house at the end of the lane.

Ox was seventeen when he found out the boy’s secret, and it painted the world around him in colors of red and orange and violet, of Alpha and Beta and Omega.

Ox was twenty-three when murder came to town and tore a hole in his head and heart. The boy chased after the monster with revenge in his bloodred eyes, leaving Ox behind to pick up the pieces.

It’s been three years since that fateful day—and the boy is back. Except now he’s a man, and Ox can no longer ignore the song that howls between them.

Where to start, what to say.  This is not the first T.J. Klune book we have read, or the first shapeshifters story, but this book is unexpected to say the least.  As we read the last page, we wanted to start it all over again. 

From the very first chapter you fall in love with Oxnard, or Ox as everyone knows him.  He is a sweet natured boy that has been stepped on over and over again by his father. He is a little slow, and has found himself the object of teasing in his very small town.  But life changes for him when he is 16 and meets his new neighbor, 10-year old Joe. And his fate is sealed. 

Joe is a whirlwind in Ox’s life, he brings him a sense of belonging to something greater, something Ox has always craved after his father left at a young age.  But Joe is a broken little boy who hasn’t spoken in 18 months after he was taken from his family and horribly abused.  Ox brings him peace, grounds him and allows him to grow into the alpha he is meant to be. 

Wolfsong is hauntingly beautiful, and although a romance, it is so much more than that.  It is about family and love and belonging, and believing in yourself.  Wolfsong is a story over 10 years, and the life of the wolf pack and of the love between Ox and Joe.  There is so much heartbreak in the book, and we cried in the first chapter, but there is s much love and humor as well. 

T.J. Klune has created a story that focuses on Ox and Joe, but weaves a life of complex characters around their love.  The wolves in the pack create a family that believes in Ox and allows him to grow into the person he needs to be. 

We didn’t think T.J. Klune could write a better book, but we were so wrong.  Wolfsong pulls you in and keeps you enraptured.  It is easily our favourite book of the year, and know we will come back to read over and over again.