KR Alexander

K.R. Alexander delivers another chilling middle-grade horror in Identikill, a story that blends supernatural suspense with raw emotion. The novel follows twin sisters—one alive, one dead—as the boundaries between memory, grief, and haunting blur. When whispers, shadows, and secrets creep into the main character’s everyday life, readers are drawn into a gripping tale where sibling love and jealousy mix with eerie encounters.

Worth the wait, the next one will be out Feb 28 - the author writes faster than any other I've seen, but the wait still hurts.

Andrew grew on me more - his humor is always there but it dialed back as we got to see more emotion and personal struggles. My favorite bonding moment was actually them sitting on the floor of the airport discussing an important issue.

I'm still loving her new bond with Jed. The apartment scene with that was interesting. He is adorable, supportive, sweet, one of my show more top favorites now.

Kage was out of line, and Isaac said what many were thinking, but I've noticed Cassia seems to be rude easier to Isaac than others for some reason. He is definitely in the background and needs some new attention. It's hard to spread out the attention with so many characters to keep track of. Still, the bond with Jason and Kage is back to being a mix of sweet, fun, and just downright strange --- we get more explanation about how weird Jason is and how Kage and him work out so well. It's odd, but I appreciate the author took a chance with some unique situations/character traits you don't see much for love interests. Finally something happens with all three of them. It's not dynamite but it's sweet and sizzling.

There is big news in this book I wouldn't dare spoil. I'm happy about it, but I'm on my toes waiting to see reactions and such later in the next book. Hoping there are still several books in the series left to get all the bonding details. I also hope we find out that news early in the next book and it doesn't leave me hanging. Eek.

Still loving this series, I'm happy her sister finds out more but there's sad stuff there. A dark and bleak ending, for sure. The author wrote the tension and the creepiness and tragedy of this so well. I could literally feel the ambience.

I'm starting to formulate a new pairing for the sister that makes sense to me. Hm. We have to bring a certain someone into the fold somehow. show less

It pains me to rate a book in my favorite RH series a 3 instead of the usual 4 or 5. I liked the book, of course, having trouble setting it aside, instantly engrossed in my favorite pack family. That said, this book was harder to handle - it was grim and dark and bleak and painful. There were rifts inside the pack and steps backward in relationships. There was torture, painful words, extended heartbreak, some losses and grieving, and the possibility of two deaths. Little humor and not as show more much bonding, brutal stuff.

I didn't get the big reveal of Cassia's big news broke to the group, which I was looking forward to. Not only was I looking forward to it, but I wanted to see everyone's reactions for extended periods of time. I was surprised to see one wolf already knows and didn't seem to react strongly about it at all, so that was upsetting. Andrew was a favorite in this one, he's really grown on me as a humor source and pillar of strength. Cassia does tell ONE person, however, toward the end - the reaction is so sweet and cheered me up after so much bleakness.

Finally Gabriel hops on for the ride too (not Cassia but future adventures). Where will that lead....?

This book is a game changer for the Sable pack and community. So many are now gone and so much now destroyed. I'm worried about a certain small girl, too. There's plenty of loss to go around.

This book focuses quite a bit on Isaac, who has seem kind of in the back for awhile now. We get all his secrets, and uncover several lies and misconceptions.

A hard thing about this book is finally the pack is apart. Kage is hardly around for two reasons, and same as Jed. It was hard not having all the pack together for most of the book as I've come to expect and enjoy.

The villains are twisted and nasty. We have another direction on who is behind it, but we know what. We finally know the instruments of killing, creepy as they are, and we now know the race behind the madness.

Cassia does some pretty stupid moves and decision making too. I can't even blame it on the hormones since she's shown the tendency to lack common sense sometimes before. This book showed some consequences of her carelessness, which was painful to watch. Overall I enjoy the character, but sometimes I wish someone would rant at it her a bit more to use her head and logic, trust the instinct that is warning her something is wrong.

Not my favorite, but I'm still as love with this series as ever. I hate to see it end two books from now, but I'm beyond happy the author extended it for two more books to bring it to a 10-series. show less

Great series with a depressing ending that doesn't fit. **rounded to 1 star from 2 3/2023

Series enders of favorite series are tough. Sometimes a reader doesn't agree with the author's changes, or sometimes the series starts falling apart or getting looser as the numbers keep climbing. The author paid full tribute to this being the last book - she made it over 600 pages, which is more than half what most of the series books were, and says right away that 75% of it is current event book, and show more the rest an extended novella detailing the future lives (which I appreciated a lot - I HATE limited epilogues with these kinds of stories).

That said, there were things in the wrap-up that really bugged me and soured my enjoyment. It was baffling. I am not having luck with that this year! (More about this below). Romance doesn't have strict rules, but the book broke them with the ending.

I'm going to discuss the positive before the rants. For one thing, fortunately Cassie gets a secret out early in the book, and in a strangely nail-biting way thanks to Jason. I was worried this would be drawn out since it's taken several books to get the secrets out to everyone (grrr), but it got out early this time.

I have to give the author kudos for the villains. There were betrayals, surprises, twists and it really did come together to make sense, tying all the way to the first scry in the first book. They have gone back and forth in a repetitive hunt, so to make it all make sense and still stay interesting enough was well done. The ending battle was long, well-paced, intense, and worthy. In between that, they do some battles beforehand with singular hunting groups, so it wasn't spent only investigating and recycling.

Now on to the negatives...

First, repetitiveness was an issue again with Cassie again not having faith in her abilities and having to be reassured over and over to draw on strength of the pack and how much she's capable of. Now, this is a decent character growth and important (in general), but since we've already seen this struggle - and she seems to overcome this struggle every book - for nine books, having it fill out SO much of the story this time was almost insulting. We've been there and repeatedly resolved that, or so I thought, so it doesn't need to keep being a plot filler.

People were constantly hurt, she would panic and help heal. This was also repetitive. I would have preferred new scenes to replace some of the repetition -- one on one bonding, some joke playing with the wolves like earlier books, restaurant experiences again even. We only get one actual intimacy scene in the final book and it wasn't erotic since it was devoted again to her having to reach into her magic. One final brush-off that was nearly impersonal and about achieving a goal instead of actual emotional intimacy. I would have enjoyed seeing that kind of bonding with the guys one last time instead.

There is a very sad death scene in the story, it was heartbreaking.

Now, on to the strange epilogue. I get the author wants it to be realistic since the harem was a bit too large. However, what have we seen each book?

• They all love Cassie
• She's a big part of their world, a missing piece that helps complete them, especially Jed with his in-between struggle, Zar never finding someone, etc.
• They worry about her leaving them, they worry about being apart from her
• The pack has been falling apart, a lot of them feel stronger and more united and accepted being with Cassie in their new mini pack where they formed bonds with each other.

What happened when the battle was over? I kid you not - seriously, in a 10 book romance series - most of the guys lose half their interest in her almost immediately. And no, really, I'm not kidding. I've never seen this happen before in a romance. Yes, they still loved her, but they moved on almost right away. The emotional distance that appeared was appalling. It didn't fit with any of the previous books or characters. There is realism, then there is heartbreaking changes that doesn't fit with characters, the romance genre, and just left me frustrated.

It depends on the character - the worst was with Jed.

Do not read these spoilers if you don't want some of this spoiled.

Jed Spoiler - One of the most heart-wrenching


He always had the biggest issues. He was devoted to finally find his mate in Cassie. He follows her around. He's happy. He loves her. They've made progress. Then, this book.

His scene finding out she is pregnant was great. Once the baby pops out, he seems to not be around her other than with the child. It's like he loses interest. When she moves, he doesn't even ask to move with her even though it would have made sense he would have loved the new area. She leaves him there unhappy at the pack where he didn't want to be. Previous books he would guard her and follow her, but apparently not any more.

Wait, what? He was always wanted to travel with her before, how could the author have us believe he would suddenly be okay with her moving and not moving with her? Their bond almost completely dissolves on both ends.

It doesn't fit with his character and all this growth between them. Where he ends up makes a sort of sense IF he hadn't been shown to grow past his previous struggles. If the author had them all stay together in a new space as a pack, like the US where they were finally free and happy, he could have been in the wild in skin with her as his mate still with everyone still having full lives. He's even told her he wants to travel with her and would like to go back someday together to places they've visited where he became happy with her. They could have stayed in another section if there were immigration issues, even if the pack was broken up some, it didn't jive well with me. At all. She becomes a fond friend he sees once a year for visits.

I'm not sure why she suddenly decided Cassie and Jed made no sense together. I loved their developing bonds! They have been severed in this book for some reason I can't fathom.

#heartbreak
#betrayal



Kage and Jason spoiler


Kage is still a favorite and great until the end, but when Cassie says she wants to move, he's all for it. That doesn't match Kage before who was worried about her leaving them and wanting to make sure she stayed. He seems to think the best thing for her is to leave now and he's fine with random visits. What on earth?

He was one of the top worried about her leaving them and it was his anxiety. He was one of the most devoted in an odd triangle. When the battle is over he tells her he no longer wants to do the mating ceremony - he eventually does three years later. He refuses at first because he's already done it once with Jason so he's not sure he wants to commit to someone again that way. WHAT???? What happened to the romance and being lifelong mates of the previous 9 books???

What happened to previous books where he was excited about it and brought it up to her in the first place? She's the one who found out about the mating ritual through him bringing up dreaming of doing it with her one day.

Once the pack was back together, he was fine with her not being around anymore, including their child not living with him. ??? What happened to all the wolf history that they are very protective of their mates and especially their children? Now it's okay for the two to live in another country with random visits??? And the new child can call him and Jason uncles instead of another name for father like the others because it doesn't matter??? They want to be friendly, distant uncles - wtf?

He was always one of the most devoted, so again heartbreak here.


Isaac spoiler

They stay with the marriage plan, but his career has fallen apart and he moves. I get that this is a necessity for money, but he takes off without telling her when she goes home to pack to come back! No discussion, he just leaves - not only that, he leaves without even telling her he's leaving. She has to find out when she gets back from the rest of the pack. I don't know about you guys, but if someone did this to me, I would take it as a hint.

He moves without making sure she wants to move with him while she's pregnant with his miracle child, or at least in his mind. What happened to before him wanting a mate and this child? He leaves the pregnant woman while moving on whether she agrees to move with him or not. This is not - no. It's just not romance.

She moves with him later, but he never asks her on page to come with him, and if she decided not to move, he would have moved anyway before the child was even born. Isaac was never a favorite of mine anyway so this didn't bother me that much, but really? We are to take this from the man who before was devoted to her and excited about the child? He waits for her to go home to pack and then leaves to start a new life without her until she randomly tags along?


Andrew spoiler


The author decided to make Andrew and Zar the major focus of her future. I have no clue why. He's a great friend type but one of the weakest romance wise. He tells her he wanted to have the official mating ceremony with Sarah, not her, and he spends a lot of time traveling and in school. They are more friends-romance but she is not the romance of his life, unlike some of the others in the series (although this is strangely changing!) He never wants the official tie to her and she's never the love of his life, but the author wants to focus on him. Why? He is the friend, not the focus. He makes it clear she will never be the love of his life and that it doesn't bother him.


Zar

Zar is the only one who wants to do the mating ceremony and who stays devoted.


Yes, these changes made my head spin, they really did.

Also, on the child

The details were great and sweet with the child - However, the author makes it sound like she'll never have another. The child only lives in a country with two of the fathers. I was picturing a new beginning pack where they're all happy together with a few kids, but the author changes that for some strange reason suddenly. Cassie even wants more kids but it doesn't seem in the cards. Sad stuff.


A depressing, confusing wrap-up. This was my top favorite reverse harem series because of the originality, the bonding, the humor, the characters lives merging into one pack - but it's all fell apart as they seem to lose much interest and don't care about their new pack structure any longer. It doesn't even feel much like a reverse harem series any longer. To say I'm disappointed is minimizing my letdown with this. show less