Shelly Laurenston

This book is made up of 2 novellas. Christmas Pride has lion shifter and ex-Navy SEAL, Mace and his fellow ex-SEAL and wolf shifter, Smitty, meeting up in NYC to set up a business. Mace also is looking for Dez, a girl he knew and loved when he was 14. She is now a cop and working a murder case connected to his pride. Lots of sniffing, fighting, and sex. The second story, Shaw's Tail, involves another lion in the pride who is mauled by the bad guys in the first story and rescued by the female lead's wolf pack. She is assigned to watch over him while he heals. He recognizes her as his mate and again there is lots of sniffing, fighting, and sex wrapped around a plot involving what trouble his brother is in. Both OK but I probably won't follow this series.… (more)

Annwyl the Bloody leads a rebel force against her cruel brother. At the beginning of the story she is wounded in battle and rescued by a large black dragon, Fearghus the Destroyer. After she heals he provides a knight to teach her to be quicker and to control her rage. By day she works with the knight and by night she befriends the dragon not knowing they are the same. It is when his family members begin appearing and time for the human battle draws near that the plot gets really interesting. Lots of blustery males, bloody battles and sexual encounters. It will be enjoyable seeing where this series goes. Included at the end of the book is the story of Fearghus's parents. A much needed history of the dragons.
Reread: I reread this before going on to the next in the series. Fun story with action, humor and romance.… (more)

Charlie, Max and Stevie are hybrid shifter half-sisters with the same father and therefore, half badger shifter. Each had a different mother, so their other half is, wolf, badger and tiger respectively. There father is a scumbag who has used the girls in various cons. They were raised by Charlie's mother until she was killed, then in her grandfather's wolf pack. Now they are on there own and trying to protect Stevie who is a genius and being hunted for her talents. Charlie and Max are hunted by assassins to get at Stevie. They meet Berg when Charlie falls off of her balcony into his lap escaping the most recent batch. The rest is a series of adventures, battles, and violence while trying to figure out who all of their pursuers are. Mixed in is some humor and a budding relationship between Berg and Charlie. Fun read but very bloody.… (more)

Really enjoyed this one with the sibling rivalry and interactions, the personalities that I fell in love with from the first book getting ample time with memorable moments, and the subtle romance that slips in between the massive battle scenes and gathering of allies. A fantastic plot and Aiken leads you down a very entertaining winding road with bickering religious sects, monk sex, hilarious and snarky comments, strong women and supportive men, and I'm thrilled about the link to a different series and need to run off to reread that series to see where the intersection lies. Oh, but first I must find and read the final book in this series that I love almost as much as I love the Honey Badger Chronicles… (more)