Circle of Desire

Katherine, raven shapeshifter and psychic, and her grandmother are hunting a new enemy of the Damask circle: some unknown and unseen force is kidnapping children. Their bodies turn up weeks after their disappearance – but they’re not just dead, their very souls have been consumed

Obviously, this has to stop. And with Damask circle resources stretched, any help they can get is very welcomed

Ethan is a police officer, his niece has been captured and he’s definitely ready to step up and join the hunt. As a werewolf he has a lot to offer – but he hates what he is and whatever fling he and Katherine has, he is determined for it not to develop into more. Here’s there to save his niece, not fall in love.

Interestingly, after I show more complained about the formulas of the last book, this book rather subverts them. Oh, he is still the physically superior, she is still the magical, less physical person (there are limits after all), but she is the one who is informed. Katherine is the one who understands about the supernatural and their nature and she is the one who both guides Ethan into the world of the supernatural and works to get him to accept his nature as a werewolf. She is the expert, she is the guide, she is the one who knows what is going on and, with her powers, she is the one who is probably the most dangerous of the two of them

Of course, in the past books those women were scared and traumatised by their true nature, while Ethan is enraged and angsty so while we break the pattern we still have the trope of the love of a good woman saving the broody man-who-has-been-hurt-by-the-ladies before.

That hurt-by-the-ladies can sometimes manifest itself as outright misogyny – one woman hurt him in the past so now all women cannot be trusted. Women are evil and conniving, women get pregnant to entrap decent menfolk with their wicked wicked wombs… I have no idea what Katherine sees in him beyond the hawtness

He also has a moment of, to say the least, careless language towards Katherine’s casual attitude to sex which comes across as slut-shamy, but she is very good at calling that out.

Unfortunately, while Katherine is, possibly, the stronger of the two she also needs rescuing at least twice and there is no real equivalent going the other way. It’s like the book couldn’t just let her be the stronger one, there had to be something to weaken her or put him in the role as white knight.

So there are some nicely subverted tropes – or, at least, patterns subverted – but some problems. The romance itself starts well in that both Katherine and Ethan are happy to have a casual fling and Katherine is certainly not a blushing virgin and has even had good sex before – all of which are nearly unheard of in the genre. But we have the woo-woo raising its head, with Ethan’s werewolf nature forcing him to have sex and creating a special lusty sex aura that affects all women around him in a frankly consent breaking and rape-esque manner. Ok, not with Katherine – she’s eager and willing, but even then, the fact the werewolf aura induces almost irresistible lust in all women around him means it’s virtually impossible for him to know whether any woman he sleeps with during the full moon actually consents to sex.

Read More show less

Sometimes I get in a place where I read a series of books back-to-back. That's what I did with the Damask Circle books and that's why I'm reviewing them together.

The first book and the third are very much the same. Missing children. An evil femal supernatural being who is somehow and for some reason draining their lifeforce. One of the protagonists is related to a missing child. And in all the books one of the protagonists is unaware of/unwilling to use/unable to control their magical/supernatural ability.

I thought Circle of Fire was the worst of the trilogy. (Trigger Warning: Mention of domestic violence.) It felt like an earlier draft of the novel the author wanted to write. (A feeling that got stronger after I read the third book, show more which seemed like the evil supernatural draining kids book the author did want to write.) It wasn't a bad story, and Maddie's reluctance to use her power and inability to control it did make sense in the context of her life. But her quickly jumping into a relationship with Jon did not make sense in that same context.

I enjoyed Circle of Death, the second book in the trilogy, the most. Its plot was different from the other two, even though its protagonists were similar. In this book, Kirby, who doesn't believe she has much power, is being stalked by someone who seems to be out for revenge. Kirby must discover the parts of her past she's blocked out and Doyle, sent by the Damask Circle, will help her. This book had a lot of action and I liked Kirby quite a bit more than I liked the protagonists in the first book.

The third book, Circle of Desire, explained more about the Damask Circle and gave me a female protagonist who was highly aware of her powers and the responsibilities that come along with them. It also gave me a bonus character in her grandmother who was very powerful and with whom Kat had a very close relationship. It also had a werewolf in heat so that was a little odd for me, not being a trope I enjoy. Still, I think this book was better written than the earlier ones and shows the author really coming into her own style.

(Provided by publisher) show less

I would like to thank NetGalley and Dell for the opportunity to read this story. Although I received the ebook for free, that in no way impacts my review.

A TEMPTING FATE

Two children have been found dead, their souls torn from their bodies. Two more are missing, and Ethan Morgan’s niece is one of them. A dedicated cop, Ethan has every intention not only of bringing her back alive but of catching the monster behind these kidnappings. And he will use anyone and everyone to achieve those aims—even a crazy woman who claims to be a witch. But time is ticking. The victims rarely stay alive for more than seven days. Four of those days have already passed.

In ten years of working for the Damask Circle, shapeshifter Katherine Tanner has

show more

never come across anything that goes after kids the way this monster does. The last thing Kat needs is interference from a cop who has no idea what he’s up against. But the greatest threat to Kat may come not from the forces of darkness, but from the man she is beginning to love. Because Ethan is a werewolf... and the full moon is rising.

Book three in the Damask Circle series stays pretty true to form, with the feisty female, the dominant male, someone(s) in need of rescue, and a supernatural evil on the loose. Thankfully this book felt much more cohesive and entertaining than the second one in the series.

Katherine, generally known as Kat, is a witch who, along with her grandmother Gwen, works for the Damask Circle. The case they've been called in to assist with is most certainly right up their alley. Yet at the same time there are elements that are new to even them, new to the entire Damask Circle who are working feverishly behind the scenes to uncover the answers Kat and crew need to complete their job and get out alive,

The biggest obstacle is also the biggest attraction - Ethan Morgan. Ethan's niece is one of the missing children. Combine that with his love for her, his feelings of debt to his older brother Luke, his repressed werewolf nature, and a full moon coming and you've got on hell of a mess on your hands.

This book follows one of the tried and true formulas, love given freely on one side and utterly resisted on the receiving end. Luckily it is handled well and doesn't feel too formulaic or trite. The whole thing is well set up and executed. Kat and Ethan share an instantaneous attraction, which they both attribute to Ethan's nature and the call of the moon. But both Kat and her gran Gwen quickly think there is more going on here than raging hormones. Too bad Ethan is to stubborn, and too stuck in the past, to recognize what is right in front of him.

Kat is a great protagonist. She's strong, honest, caring, and has a deep sense of who she is, not too mention what she'll settle for at the end of the day. She faces terrifying creatures and the unknown because someone has to rescue the innocents. She acknowledges her fear but refuses to let it stop her, both physically and emotionally. Though she struggles a bit more with the latter of the two eventually she works through her issues and finds her center again.

While this book clearly follows a well known formula, it's done well enough that the story is still enjoyable. The arc of the story and growth of the characters are well matched, so things come off pretty smoothly, though the ending felt a tad bit rushed to me.

SPOILER:
I must admit I wondered why the Mara didn't sense that Janie, Ethan's niece, was the daughter of a werewolf when she snatched her. Did she need the additional energies from a shifter - assuming that Janie is a werewolf herself? And if Janie was a werewolf wouldn't that have made her more difficult to control? The fact that Janie's parental lines was never once addressed (that I recall) was a niggling little irritant throughout the book for me. Particularly toward the end when children became a more frequent topic. show less

I liked this book the best out or the three so far. While it still had plenty of supernatural features in it, it was the relationship between Ethan and Kat that really pushed this story along. At first I didn't really like Ethan for some reason but after he let his walls down a little I started seeing him as more of a tortured hero then a first class dick. Looking forward to more in this series.

Katherine Tanner has been working for a long time for the Damask Circle and she is hunting a creature that's going after children, kidnapping them and killing them in horrible ways. She finds herself helping a cop, Ethan Morgan, hunting for his Niece and finding themselves attracted. Ethan has hangups about a previous girlfriend so their relationship is only going to be short-term.

It wasn't bad but occasionally I wanted more plot and it felt jumpy sometimes. Still want to read more about this world.

I think this is my favorite of the 3. Both characters are paranormal beings, both know it and both of comfortable with it, so there is no awkward "what the hell are you" moments. The creature's that Keri comes up with for these books though are awesome!! I never know what to expect the bad guy/thing to be when I pick up these books. Very sad to know this is the last of this series, but anxious to see what else she has in store for us. Definite recommendation for this book! I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a reissue of an older work and the third book in the series of the Damask Circle. Once again we get new characters with the only tie to any previous ones are occasional phone calls to the leader of the circle. New monster/villain and a slightly different take on zombies. Both the hero and heroine are shifters, one is a bird and the other is a wolf. The hero is the wolf and he has for the most part cut himself off to any permanent relationships with women due to his heart being broken when he was seventeen. I got a bit of laugh at that since most of the time it seems the heroine has the broken heart and has but be coaxed out of their relationship shell. The hunt for the baddie that has kidnapped the kids just didn't feel right show more for the most part. They never coordinated with the local police one the two of them hooked up even with one of them being an officer and the uncle of one of the missing kids. Set your brain aside for most of the logic of the story and enjoy how they constantly have to have sex while trying to rescue the kids.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss show less