Shelly Laurenston

Solidly enjoyed what turned out to be a cozy dragon smut. The writing is simple and straightforward and so are the characters, so you'd think the plot would be boring and predictable, but the side characters keep the story lively and the gentle humour woven throughout do too. Personally I found the romance between the leads a bit unearned - it started with love/lust at first sight and rolled on inevitably from there - but that didn't really bother me, since my expectations for an erotic show more romance had been properly set.

If you're looking for intricate worldbuilding, byzantine court intrigue, detailed battle plans, tortured characters who torture each other with their emotional baggage, deeply authentic portrayal of historical Ireland - this is not the book for you. But if you're looking for something cute, fun and sexy that's not too saccharine, then give this book a try. show less

Aiken packs a blacksmith punch- loved this big strong woman with a huge heart story. I could barely set it down and finished it within 12 hours. It follows along some traditional fantasy structure with the quest and gathering of troops and crescendos into several battles and the FMC becomes stronger after the trials and betrayals. I adore the family interactions and the crazy sibling love/hate. It was also nice to read a story in third person since so many are now first person narratives. So show more excited to start the next one! show less

While I already own a copy or two of Howl for It, I was given an advanced copy of the republished edition from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The following review consists solely of my opinions and no one else's.

I love and worship Shelly Laurenston so when NetGalley showed a republication of Howl for It, I nearly poured a bottle of water on my laptop to click the request button. Howl for It is a duet anthology consisting of Like a Wolf with a Bone by Shelly show more Laurenston, Book 0.5 of the Pride series, and Wed or Dead by Cynthia Eden.

Like a Wolf with a Bone
I can’t not gush about Eggie Ray Smith, he's one of my favourite characters from Shelly Laurenston. I’ve been in love with Eggie Ray Smith’s character since reading about needing to call Uncle Eggie in to deal with some issues in The Beast in Him. He's fearsome and overly protective of anyone he deems 'his'. And, as soon as he set eyes on Darla Mae Lewis, she was his and he'd do anything to keep her safe. Which means when Darla Mae is attacked by a squad of full-humans trying to kill her, Eggie does what Eggie Ray Smith does best. He starts the killin'.
Most shifters in the world are terrified of Eggie Ray Smith, even his fellow packmates aren't comfortable around him and aren't exactly bending over backwards to invite him to sit a spell with them. Which makes little Darla Mae none too happy when she finds out. Eggie's a fearsome shifter to be sure, but he's not a bad guy. He begs for his mother's help to take out Darla's stitches because he's worried his hands are too rough to touch Darla. He tries to change himself for Darla but Darla is quick to tell him she likes him just the way he is.
Darla Mae Lewis is one of those people I'd love to have in my life, she's loving and trusting but she's also an assertive woman who will kick ass if she feels she has to. She's very loyal and defends Eggie Ray several times, even against her own sisters. Darla Mae is also a well-travelled and highly educated pastry chef, working at Van Holtz Restaurants all over the place and even having her European culinary education funded by her boss. Best of all? Darla Mae Lewis is a bona fide all-inclusive feminist. Yes, she's an apex predator shifter who shifter males know not to mess with, but she understands all women need equality and does the marching and protesting just like we are today.
In Like a Wolf with a Bone, we get to see how some older characters from Laurenston's shifter books were as 'new adults', Blayne Thorpe's daddy, Sissy Mae's and Smitty's parents, and, of course Dee-Ann's parents. We also meet Sara Morrighan's parents at a Woodstock-style party in the mountains.
With Like a Wolf with a Bone, I always enjoy reading the story. I think I actually have it memorised. Every part of the story had a beginning, a middle, and an end. Nothing was left unresolved. As a standalone and not a paired book, I'd rate Like a Wolf with a Bone, as 5 out of 5 stars because it's one of my favourite Laurenston books and it needs more gushing since it's a short story.

Wed or Dead
I admit it. Before this ARC, I'd actually never read Cynthia Eden's half of the book. So, this was actually my first time reading Wed or Dead. I enjoyed Kayla and Gage's story, but it wasn't really my kind of book. I'm not a fan of the 'genetically compatible for breeding mate' trope, women are not incubators and that's always what this trope says to me.
I did, however, enjoy the beginning of the story which starts with Kayla convincing herself to walk down the aisle of a Las Vegas strip chapel to her waiting groom, Gage. And then, we have a wedding night and meh. But that morning after routine was pretty amazing with the whole "can I really bring myself to kill the person I just had sex with, my newly wedded spouse?". The escape out the window was shocking and exhilarating from my spot in my safe bed with my cosy pupper under my head. Don't ask me to jump out the window to certain death, but I'll totally read or watch it.
The way the story played out, the betrayals and the enemy of my enemy is my friend thing? I liked it but some of it (the Big Bad) was too bad for me. Not on a literary level but on a moral level. There are just some things that you don't do and The Big Bad did it. Like, can I just slip into the story and be a little homicidal on The Big Bad?
While Wed or Dead wasn't very memorable for me, I did like reading it. I'll even go read the other Cynthia Eden books I bought just because they were there. Don't judge. I like to have options. But because it wasn't very memorable and it played on a trope I have no love for among a few other things you'll probably notice if you read it, I'm only giving it 3 stars.

Overall, I give Howl for It (both Like a Wolf with a Bone and Wed or Dead) 4 out of 5 stars and 3 out of 5 flames. I especially enjoyed reading Howl for It because the sexy times are limited because the stories are short in order to provide a full story for us readers to enjoy. show less

About a Dragon is the second full-length novel in G. A. Aiken’s Dragon Kin series according to the author’s recommended reading order. In this one, we have Fearghus’s younger brother, Briec the Mighty, paired with Talaith, a Nolwenn witch. Briec meets Talaith while visiting a human village and knows he wants her, but she repels his advances. Then the next day, he discovers the entire town, including her own husband, trying to hang her for witchcraft. He decides to rescue her, thinking show more that she’ll be grateful enough to want to bed him. He intends to take her to his den, but along the way, some unusually bad weather sets in. Briec makes a detour to his brother’s den instead, where they spend several days getting to know one another. But just as Briec thinks he’s finally won over the prickly witch, she disappears on him, leaving him with an unfamiliar hollow feeling in his chest. Little does he know that Talaith has been trained as an assassin and serves—albeit unwillingly—the powerful goddess, Arzhela, who she believes is holding her only daughter, Izzy, hostage until Talaith kills someone for her. That person proves to be someone Briec calls family, but she ends up making friends with her mark instead of ending their life. As a result, she and Briec are eventually reunited at Garbhan Isle, a kingdom protected by dragons. The reunion is going well until Hamish, a faithful servant of Arzhela and a mortal enemy of Fearghus’s mate, Annwyl, attacks the castle. During the battle Izzy is kidnapped, and faced with losing the daughter she’s only just found, Talaith will stop at nothing to get her back, even if it means losing her life and her future with Briec.

Briec is an arrogant dragon who is rather full of himself and doesn’t think that any female would ever reject him. Yet that’s exactly what Talaith does at their first meeting, which leaves him both perplexed and intrigued. Briec has never really understood what his brothers see in human women, but Talaith leaves him beginning to understand why they like human females so much. Not to be deterred, he returns to the village to continue his pursuit, only to find her in the process of being hanged. He steps in to rescue her and then carries her off to his den. By dragon law, her life now belongs to him, but she doesn’t really see it that way. At first, Briec thinks he’ll just have his fun with Talaith, and when he tires of her, he’ll move on. But the more time he spends with her, the more he thinks he’ll be keeping her for quite some time to come, as life with her would certainly never be boring. Then Talaith disappears, leaving him feeling like his chest is caving in, something he’s never felt before in his long life. When Briec is reunited with her at Garbhan Isle and discovers the truth of why she left, he’s more than happy to forgive her to have her back in his life. But when Arzhela comes to exact her revenge, he may be faced with losing Talaith all over again. Briec is arrogant with a capital “A” and doesn’t really know the right things to say or do with a female. Occasionally he figures it out on his own, but more often than not, his brothers are whispering suggestions in his ear. He actually enjoys arguing with Talaith, which just gets them both hot and bothered. He’s also a clueless alpha male when it comes to emotions. When he actually starts feeling things for Talaith, he turns a bit whiny, which was rather funny. Overall, he was pretty amusing and he didn’t really push any major buttons for me. However, I didn’t fall for him in quite the same way as I did for his brother Fearghus.

Talaith is a Nolwenn witch who comes from a desert kingdom far from Garbhan Isle and the surrounding countries. Years ago, she displeased her mother by falling in love with and bearing the child of a young soldier who was later killed in battle. As a result, her child was taken from her and placed with Lord Hamish. Talaith was taken to his kingdom as well and married off to a commoner there. In order to get her daughter back, she was tasked with becoming a deadly assassin and the time has come for her to be called upon to perform the task which Arzhela, the goddess the Nolwenn witches serve, has demanded. Unfortunately her mission has been thrown off track by nearly being hanged and then rescued and carried off by an infuriating dragon. Although very attracted to his human form, Talaith has no intention of making things easy on him. However, after being cooped up in his brother’s den for days on end, she can’t help succumbing to his charms. A part of her would love to just stay with Briec forever, but when Arzhela finds her and demands payment, threatening Talaith’s daughter if she doesn’t comply, she has no other choice but to leave him. Talaith decides on a risky course of action that she hopes will protect her daughter while allowing her to not take a life, which earns her the support of Annwyl who takes Talaith and her daughter back to her kingdom where she’s reunited with Briec. But Arzhela isn’t finished with her, and this time, Talaith may have to give her life in order to save her child. Talaith is a pretty prickly female, which I’m coming to recognize seems to be par for the course in this series. She’s obviously a strong woman to be a trained assassin who can take out grown men while barely breaking a sweat, although she’s not nearly as bloodthirsty as Annwyl.;-) I suppose Briec needed someone like this to keep his huge ego in check, though, and she does have a softer side that I could relate to.

In About a Dragon, there are also a number of significant supporting characters, some of whom have their own books in the series. We get to see a fair bit of Fearghus and Annwyl (Dragon Actually) and there are some very important developments in their lives. Briec’s younger brother, Gwenvael, becomes the hero of the next full-length book, What a Dragon Should Know. The epilogue in which he meets his future mate makes it seem like they’ll have an interesting story. Briec’s younger sister, Keita, appears a few times, and she’ll become the heroine of the fourth book, Last Dragon Standing. Briec’s baby brother, Eibhear, features prominently, and right now, he’s quite possibly my favorite of the brothers. The author very much teases a pairing between him and Talaith’s daughter, Izzy, so I was happy to learn that they do indeed get their own story in the sixth book, How to Drive a Dragon Crazy. Then last, but certainly not least, Briec’s older sister, Morfyd, continues to be Annwyl’s battle mage, and I was thrilled to see that her relationship with Annwyl’s second-in-command, Brastias, continues to take steps forward in this book. At this point, I’m guessing that their story is going to be told as a secondary romance throughout the series rather than them getting a book of their own.

Overall, I enjoyed About a Dragon. This entire series has a more lighthearted feel to it for paranormal romance with lots of humor sprinkled throughout. I waffled on how to rate it, though. I almost gave it 4.5 stars because I did like it quite a bit, but when I started comparing the story and the characters to the previous stories I’d read in the series, I felt like it was ever-so-slightly less good. Me not falling quite as hard for Briec as I did for Fearghus and their father, Bercelak, in their stories played a part in my decision, too. I also felt like the moment when Talaith defeats her enemy was a little too quick and anticlimactic when I was expecting a little harder battle. One other issue I had is that I was slightly off-put by Briec claiming Talaith without her full consent, although I acknowledge that he didn’t entirely have control of himself at the time given that the gods were messing with them. Then much like with the first two stories of the series, there were a number of editing issues such as incorrect words, incorrect verb conjugations, etc., as well as a serious overabundance of eye rolling. Otherwise, though, I found About a Dragon to be a fun, entertaining story, and that epilogue with Gwenvael has left me looking forward to continuing with the series soon. show less