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NEW RELEASE BLITZ: Beyond Identity by Karrie Roman (Excerpt & Giveaway)
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MANGA: Hoppe Ni Himawari
Hoppe Ni Himawari – Mita Ori
A story about a cute chubby guy in the gardening club who admires his classmate, the baseball team captain.
A rare beast in BL where the MC is chubby and loved by the seme whatever shape he’s in.
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REVIEW: The Wolf At Bay by Charlie Adhara
Big Bad Wolf: The Wolf At Bay – Charlie Adhara
Going home digs up bad memories, so it’s something Bureau of Special Investigations agent Cooper Dayton tries to avoid. When he’s guilted into a visit, Cooper brings along Oliver Park, his hot new werewolf partner, in the hopes the trip will help clarify their status as a couple…or not.
When Park’s keen shifter nose uncovers a body in the yard and Cooper’s father is the prime suspect, Cooper knows they’re on their own. Familial involvement means no sanctioned investigation. They’ll need to go rogue and solve the mystery quietly or risk seeing Cooper’s dad put behind bars.
The case may be cold, but Park and Cooper’s relationship heats up as they work. And yet if Cooper can’t figure out what’s going on between them outside of the bedroom, he’ll lose someone he… Well, he can’t quite put into words how he feels about Park. He knows one thing for sure: he’s not ready to say goodbye, though with the real killer inching ever closer…he may not have a choice.
I am currently on a shifter binge and Charlie Adhara’s wolves are my favorite wolves. Hers are simultaneously very wolfy and also not.
Case in point: Oliver Park. Proving that the seasick werewolf is the best werewolf.
Hints of him being not only just an alpha but quite possibly The Alpha. He did very alpha wolf things, like intimidate the other wolves into submission. That includes dogs. He’s also afraid of water, not good with boats and needs reading glasses he’s too embarrassed to wear in public. A refreshing change from the usual indestructible, tough guy specimens we normally get.
As much as I would like to see major wolf action (shifting, marking, etc), I also enjoyed the novelty of having a shifter book focusing on realism rather than the paranormal. The book felt like a very low-key commentary on the genre. They are serious about the whole werewolf business but there’s also a sense of not taking it too seriously. Cooper and Oliver constantly exchanged repartee that, among many things, made fun of wolfy stuff including the mate aspect. Which is probably what I would do too, if I suddenly find myself in the company of supernatural creatures.
Said exchange of repartee is what made the The Wolf At Bay come alive. I live for Cooper and Park’s banters! I could listen to them all day. Park is a normally taciturn person and I enjoyed the moments where Coop drew out his playful side. They just CLICKED!
“As you pointed out before, I’ve made my feelings clear. So.”
Silence. He glanced up and was caught in Park’s slow smile.
“What?”
The smile widened. “Papa, no! I luurve him,” Park said dramatically, and put a hand to his brow.
Also, ♡ porcupine ♡!
Obviously, I love Park. The man is a sweetheart. He’s good for Coop. I like it that they’re also really good friends aside than whatever else they were. And, yes!!! been waiting for it, the story shed some light on his background. Not too much but enough of a teaser for the third book. Still not fully shifting tho.
Cooper is more difficult. But I get him. I get the anxiety and the fears. He and Park talked about anything and everything, constantly dancing around the thing they actually wanted to talk about. Coop took baby steps. I wanted to hurry him along but these things need to be taken at one’s own pace. And Park, ever patient bless him, never failed to let him know he will be there every step of the way.
So here I am at the edge of my seat, on high alert for any tiny gesture or small words that spoke volumes of how they really felt. Until they finally took the plunge and it was all very ♡✧。(◍＞◡＜◍ ⋈ )。✧♡!!! (And in keeping with the character of the series, they joked about that moment later on too).
Like most book twos, The Wolf At Bay is a transition to the next installment but there’s so much more to it. It’s a story about coming to terms with the past and the present. Also a cleverly written mystery and just cleverly written overall. There were major strides in character development, romance and family relationships. The dialogues were sharper and wittier than ever.
The case was a really good one. I was completely in the dark until the end. It was complex and multi-layered, unearthing not only a literal skeleton but many other skeletons of the Dayton family and the rest of the neighborhood. It made you question, how well do you really know the people you grew up with?
This dreaded hometown visit was a long time coming. It took Park, and us, on an awkward tour of Cooper’s childhood. Coop had to confront childhood monsters, adolescent crushes and his own brother and father. There were ghosts that needed to be exorcised. The air (desperately) needed to be cleared. Everything eventually tied in with the werewolf business and it only got messier. Yikes!
All in all, The Wolf At Bay is a great second book. I loved it better than the first.
P.S.
Big Bad Wolf should be read in order. Book one, The Wolf At The Door here.
Other paranormal/shifter series you might be interested in:
Flesh And Bone
Hexworld
Soulbound
Green CreekRating:
4.5 Stars – perfection is only half a step awaySoundtrack: I Love You
Artist: Under The Influence Of Giants
Album: Under The Influence Of Giants. -
SOUNDTRACK: I Love You by Under The Influence Of Giants
Soundtrack to Big Bad Wolf: The Wolf At Bay by Charlie Adhara
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“So I get it. I know you’re this ridiculous superhero and you always have been. Shit, you might not believe in magic, but to me you’re as close to magical as anything I’ve ever known. And not just because of the whole werewolf thing, but because you’re you. All special and brilliant and patient and funny and you know, sort of good-looking sometimes, I guess.”
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MOVIE FEATURE: Date And Switch
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MANGA: Trap
Trap – Min Song A
A man breaks up with his male longterm lover as he enters an arranged marriage. But will he be able to forget?
And so he went ahead and dug his own grave…
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REVIEW: Bleed by Joel Abernathy
Flesh And Bone: Bleed – Joel Abernathy
Vengeance.
My purpose, carved deeper into my soul than their names carved in my flesh.
Dominic.
The man who took everything from me, my own personal devil in shifting flesh.
Ursache.
My pack. The high-born family of wolves I’ve sworn my life to protect, even if my dying breath is pledged to another.
Mason…
My everything. Friend, confidant, enemy, lover. Most dangerous of all, he would become the reason I lived if I let him. He is the one thing I won’t allow Dominic to take from me. Love is not a luxury I can afford, but the sweetness of revenge has nothing on the taste of him…
I knew I would like this so much better than the first book!
If ever there was a time to use the expression “my heart was ripped to pieces“, this is it. Very apt cover there.
First, a fair warning. The MCs were tortured on and off-page, there is implied sexual abuse, transphobia, consensual knife-play, among others.
Also, very, very angsty and emotionally wrenching because circumstances were harsh and brutal but the person who was harshest to Mason was Mason himself.
Bleed picks up on the Ursache pack life 5 years after Exhale. Nicolae and Jack has established their family but Mason still felt like the perpetual outsider. He was constantly out of the loop and has yet to earn his father’s respect despite being his second after so many years. His relationship with his father was strained and antagonistic because Nicolae couldn’t spare him the affection he showed his other children. Here again, the Ursache Alpha made himself unlikable until the last part where they had the talk.
Like most Ursache, Mason is arrogant, authoritative and excelled at many things. And just like his father, at first, second and third glances, he’s a hard to man to like. Witness book one, where even the usually nice Jack called him The Prick (in fairness to Jack that was before he knew his stepson). Though nobody could deny he would do anything for his pack. What nobody knows is that he is secretly in love with his bestfriend Vasil. Secret because mating between two male alphas is frowned upon by the very traditional wolf society. What they also don’t know (and what I sensed from the get go because with a dad like Nicolae) is that Mason needs a hug. Like yesterday.
Vasil is the Ursache pack enforcer waiting for his date with the devil. It was 15 years ago, when he was a young soldier in a pack war and was caught and tortured by a mysterious sadistic psycho named Dominic, who killed his entire family. He was rescued by Nicolae and since then, he’s biding his time when he could finally have his revenge.
Unlike Mason, Vasil is well-liked by all. He is a genial fellow, a very tough soldier, a skilled fighter and trusted bodyguard. He is a loyal friend, confidant, rival and Mason’s second in the pack. The two men have been friends since childhood.
Vasil never entirely got over the nightmare and felt like he would never be whole again. He has his dark secrets which were indeed fucked up given what he had gone through but that’s the way they are, him and Mason.
“Creepy and kind of fucked, but…sweet.”
I grinned. “Is there any other way to describe our relationship?”
“Probably not,”
Hugging them both. (つˆ⌣ˆ)つ⊂(・﹏ # ⊂) ⊂(・﹏・⊂)
Bleed is almost epic in its scale. It is a story of vengeance, betrayal, family, love, friendship, responsibilities and loyalty. It is a well-conceived, well-executed friends-to-lovers romance told in both Mason and Vasil’s POV where the internal dialogues were raw and pain was a tangible presence permeating everything. And that was before actual pain was inflicted.
Bad enough that their relationship was up in the air. Worse that Mason had to sacrifice his personal happiness to save his stepsister, Ellie, and the pack. The devil came calling for Vasil, who was all ready to kill or be killed because he had nothing to lose. That’s what he thought. He was dead wrong.
The story then proceeded to earn its horror tag. Not just with one but two monsters! And it went on for months! If I thought Jack had the raw end of the deal before, fate was just downright cruel this time.
ノಥ,_｣ಥ)ノ彡┻━┻
The story didn’t end with the rescue. There was the aftermath to deal with. Battered bodies to patch up and a lifetime of scars bear.
But speaking of health concerns, how are they having sex in the shower when one is fresh out of surgery and no longer has the wolf healing ability?
That boggled me slightly but who cares. This has one of the hardest earned HEAs I’ve ever read and the boys can take whatever happiness they can get.
P.S.
Bleed is not a standalone. Flesh and Bone should be read in order. Exhale review here.
Other paranormal/shifter series you might be interested in:
Big Bad Wolf
Hexworld
Soulbound
Green CreekRating:
4.5 Stars – perfection is only half a step awaySoundtrack: Scars
Artist: IAMX
Album: Everything Is Burning (Metanoia Addendum) -
SOUNDTRACK: Scars by IAMX
Soundtrack to Flesh And Bone: Bleed by Joel Abernathy
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I was the one fucking him, but he had his hands inside of me, tearing through my soul and rearranging me inside until there was room for nothing else but him. He was my vengeance, my purpose, my life and death encapsulated in one moment.
