Dark Alpha's Hunger by Donna Grant 4 ✭

Title:	Dark Alpha's Hunger
Author:	Donna Grant
Publisher:	St. Martin's Paperbacks
Series:	Reapers
Genre:	Romance, Gothic, Paranormal
Publish Date:	August 7, 2018
Sold by:	Macmillan
Pages:	158
Ages:	18+

Rating: ✭✭✭✭

Dark Alpha's Hunger is another super short novel by Donna Grant that you can easily eat up in a day. I feel like the story here is better than my last read. This had angst, desire, passion, a quirky female main and it added a bunch of new characters to the ever growing world. I foresee more Reaper novels in the future for sure. This novel doesn't talk much about the current events in previous books, but it all fairness Eoghan has been in some terrible dark dimension. So if you were writing true to the characters feelings, yea he isn't going to be filling you in on the current state of the fight with Bran. So this book really deviates from where it felt like the story arc was going. I enjoyed this book because it was short and well written. I think that the events from this book will impact other story arcs within the world. It would be easy to do. I don't want to reveal anything, but I feel like there are a couple characters that when their books hit, fans are gonna go apeshit.

Moving on. So from what few books I have read, it seems like fae halflings have a specific power that makes them unique and one of a kind. Thea has a gift with music. She was abandoned at an orphanage as a baby and grew there her whole life. She hasn't thought about who her parents might be in a long time. So when she plays music, it just comes to her naturally, straight from her soul. She also was drawn to locations. There were childhood stones that drew her to them, and she still went to them as an adult. You know those stones in Outlander that the chick goes back in time from, yea those. So as an adult, she goes back to some stones in this one location and starts playing her violin. The music feels like its being pulled from her by the stones. Then she sees a hand reaching from her out of the dark entrance to the stones. This hand becomes a body as she helps pull him out, and reveals Eoghan. He heard her enchanting music and followed it out of that nightmare realm he was stuck in.

I feel like this book deserves its higher rating. I really liked this novel, it really pulls me into the world while it is expanding. I love falling in love, which I've said before. I think if I hadn't received a free ARC, I would buy it. I am really looking forward to whenever Cael gets his book. And Rhi, I want Rhi to have a book.

If you would like to check out the beginning of Dark Alpha's Hunger, you can read below without leaving the page. 

Dark Alpha's Night by Donna Grant 3 ✭

Title:	Dark Alpha's Night
Author:	Donna Grant
Publisher:	St. Martin's Paperback
Series:	Reapers
Genre:	Romance, Gothic
Publish Date:	March 6, 2018
Sold by:	Macmillan
Pages:	158
Ages:	18 +

 Rating: ✭✭✭
I want to start off with an apology. I was lucky enough to get many ARC's this year. With buying our first home, getting my daughter started with pre-k, and getting adjusted to the new routines has set me back so bad with my books. I feel disappointed in myself especially when I see that I have gotten 4 total ARC's for this series. The last one I got was released last month on the 30th. To the publishers who gave me the books, I am so sorry for the delay. With that, I have decided to knock out all of my Donna Grant books in a row. Are you guys ready? I don't think putting all three books left into one post will be a good idea. I will continue my same format for each book.

I have read a book by Donna Grant before and I really enjoyed it. I like the author, so when I had an opportunity for other ARC books by her, um... hell yeah. After a little bit, I realized that this is a HUGE world, and all the different series that Donna Grant has written are connected. I love the big series. I am really wishing I got to this at the start. So I looked up the reading order for myself just so see it visually and it is easy to find on the author's website. Another author that has a huger series that I got 20 + books deep into like that is Sherrilyn Kenyon. So Donna Grant is on the list of author's that I will scoop up because dedication to a series like that makes me happy. 

Picking up a book when it's in the middle of the series is risky. You don't know if you're going to be missing out on a bunch of backstories for the characters you're reading about. You don't know if there are attributes to the characters that were mentioned before. I know I have said similarly before since this isn't my first starting somewhere other than the start. However, I have at least read a book from the world that this book belongs too. So I'm not totally lost. If you wanted to pick this up without reading the previous books, I think you would be fine. This isn't Donna Grant's first rodeo connecting readers to previous books. Dark Alpha's Night is thankfully one of those where chapter one gives you a quick breakdown of the world from Daire, one of the main characters, POV. So you get a feel for his personality and what the first four books involved. Who has coupled up in the previous books, and who have they been fighting? It really only gets into the Reapers series previous info, but there is mention to the other series that are connected. The Reaper's are working to defeat Bran, a former Reaper, in their series. Bran is trying to kill Death for revenge. There is a rule that since Reapers are the fae executioners, another fae can't know about them. The consequence is the fae who knows about the Reapers is killed. Now Bran has a special sort of rage since most of the Reapers are now paired up with someone. Each booth Bran finds a sort of loophole to siphon Death's power from her, and he is close to killing her in this book. Bran discovers a new loophole which leads him to Ettie and her two sisters. They are his descendants from his time before he was a Reaper.

Ettie is the bland sister out of the three. She is pretty but not as astounding as the other two. Each sister has a gifted characteristic that they get from their half fae lineage. Carrie has like a chef power, lol. Jamie is brilliant with mechanical things. Ettie doesn't know what her quality is till later. The only thing she knows that sets her apart is she's a better fighter. Her father told them about the fae and told them to train and prepare. Which is what he was told. So her good fighting in her mind is just from her dedication. Daire was sort of boring to me. He seemed bland, and that isn't bad because these two seemed more like a normal person you would meet on the street. Not overly brooding, or any of those typical steamy romance guys. I appreciate that every now and then when it's done right. 

It looks like this is a six book series for the Reapers alone, not the whole world. That's how many it looks like so far from a quick goodreads.com check. All the books are decently priced at $3.99. It was on sale at the beginning of October so I would keep your eye out for another sale too. I would recommend this Author and her series from what I have read so far. Dark Alpha's Night was a good story, steamy, and quick enough to get through. I can't wait to continue the series from here. 

Read below for a short free preview of Dark Alpha's Night, without leaving the page. 

Now or Never Moment: Omnibus by Katie Kaleski 2 ✭

Title:	The Now or Never Moment: Omnibus
Author:	Katie Kaleski
Genre:	Teen, Young Adult, Depression, Mental Illness
Publish Date:	January 23, 2018
Sold by:	Amazon Digital Services LLC
Pages:	481
Ages:	Teen

Rating: ✭✭

Shelby is getting ready to go off to college and her best friend hands her a package. She is to not open it until she is happy with her life away at college. The omnibus is set up with two perspectives. Shelby is a present day and Tanner in the past. In the package, Tanner is telling Shelby how the past events and their friendship has gotten to where it is now. You become emotionally invested in Tanner and what the future holds for him.

It touches a lot of different topics like bullying, suicide, and depression. These things could be hard to read about. When I was in school, I was bullied. So these things matter to me. It touches so close to home. Eating lunch in the bathroom, crying every day after school, but trying to hide it from everyone because you just know deep down (or think you know) that no matter what nothing will change. If I had talked to the right person, I might have learned what I know now about those miserable days. Now I know how much those times shaped me to understand others better, but also how to be true to myself and my feelings. Let's be honest here, I am over 30 now and some of my high school situations still pop up in my head and haunt me. That's why bullying is such an important topic. So I think this book really helps you feel for Tanner and what he goes through. I think this book did a good job with that.

I did have some problems with the book. I feel like scene transitions were rough, especially for Shelby scenes. It felt like there was no transition at all. It was better when you were reading Tanner's well thought out letter to Shelby. The best way I can explain it is sometimes when reading through a chain of scenes for Shelby, I couldn't visualize what was going on right. It ended up feeling a little like reading stick figures. This really brought the story down for me. It may have even come out better without those scenes altogether. I don't know. I'm not the best writer myself. Or maybe with a younger generation, those scenes for Shelby were just right.

If you have Kindle Unlimited this is a Freebie that you can pick up. It's only $1.99 if you don't have Kindle Unlimited and wanted to give it a try. I think that this is a very moving story. I personally just thought it was ok and that it may appeal to a much younger generation who is fine just the base story meaning. 

Song of Blood & Stone by L. Penelope 3 ✭

Title:	Song of Blood & Stone
Author:	L. Penelope
Publisher:	St. Martin's Press
Series:	Earthsinger Chronicles
Genre:	Romance, Fantasy
Publish Date:	May 1, 2018
Sold by:	Macmillan
Pages:	384
Ages:	18+

 Rating: ✭✭✭

Within the first few paragraphs of the prologue, I felt like this would be an amazing read. It was like poetry in the prologue and it felt like it was setting this big amazing tone for the story. However, the prologue is about the lore of the world and the rest of the book isn't quite like that. I like the different concepts in the book and I liked it overall.

Jasminda is a tough and unique in a world that looks down on her. She has Earthsinger powers which originated as something beautiful but has devolved over the years. There is a mythology created for this world that I liked. This world is divided into two countries. Honestly, at the start, I was a little confused about which side was what. I think that’s because of her location geologically in the world, but also her bi-racial heritage. I feel like this could have been done a little better in the beginning. So her father is from Lagrimar where the Earthsinger magic seems to be located, and her mother was Elsira. She lived in Elsira but right on the border. The two countries had been in multiple wars up to this point in the story. Jasminda has a little of the Earthsinger power, healing, emotion reading, etc. Her family is gone and she is alone trying to keep her family's land. With the deadline coming up for her to pay her taxes owed, her world gets complicated. While walking home she sees a man laying wounded in the road and heals him some with her powers. He ends up being captured and she rescues him. The man is Jack, an Elsira soldier.

The romance between them is young, but it isn’t for a teen to read. Jasminda is twenty-two if I remember correctly, so they are in the new adult age group. When they’re touching hands is still “tingly” and all that. That isn’t a terrible thing. It just isn't what I was expecting when I started reading the book. I love the cover. It is stunning and vibrant like the world that was built. I just wish there was more world building to read about. I would love to hear more about the looks and feels of the world. 

You can check out a Free sample of Song of Blood & Stone below without leaving the page.