ARC Review: How to Run with the Wolves (Howl at the Moon 5) by Eli Easton

Blurb:

Zeus loves his job on the new Mad Creek Search & Rescue team, and his inner Saint Bernard is finally being used to his full potential. When he sees a mysterious and wild-looking quickened—a dog shifter—at an earthquake site in Alaska, Zeus is compelled to investigate. Zeus falls hard for the primal beauty of Timo and of Alaska itself. Both call to his deep canine soul. But the Quimmiq pack’s laws are as harsh as the Alaskan winters, and Timo is out of his reach.

Timo’s pack of dog shifters left their Inuit village generations ago and have lived wild ever since. Not trusting the “one-skinned,” and with their numbers dwindling, the Quimmiq are on the verge of extinction. Timo is shocked to discover a whole group of “two-skinned” working as a rescue team, and he is particularly fascinated by Zeus, a gentle giant. He senses what Zeus feels for him… but it’s forbidden.

Can Mad Creek save this lost quickened clan? Perhaps—if they can learn how to run with the wolves.

Dani's rating:

I can't with how amazing this book is. I did not want it to end. I love this dog-human world Eli Easton has created, and I'm here to say: she can do no wrong.

He wanted to live in a world where everyone did what they wanted ... Where Timo could choose who he loved. He wanted to live in a world where you mated with the person you most wanted to be with. Where that did not mean one of the pair was weak. Where the two stood shoulder to shoulder, looking eye to eye. Where rocks loved water. And couches ... he wanted to live in a world with couches.

Timo, whose dog is a husky, wants a lot of things. He wants his sister Hitty, born small and sickly, to get better. He wants his brother Yuki, the pack alpha, to put his trust in Timo. He wants his two-skin (human and dog) tribe, the Qimmig of Alaska, to survive even as their numbers dwindle.

But most of all Timo wants Zeus.

Zeus is a St. Bernard, a big, gentle giant. He speaks softly and is kind to his very core. He volunteers on Mad Creek's Search and Rescue team and travels to Alaska to help find survivors following an earthquake.

And in Alaska, Zeus sees Timo.

ARC Review: The Dragon's Rebel by Jacqueline Rohrbach

From The Blurb:

Cheron, former rebel leader and newly crowned king, comes to Wren Gardens on a holy mission to free his goddess from exile and bring peace to his kingdom, but he’s distracted by an unholy and very beautiful concubine, Ekos. 

Ekos may be more than a simple love slave, though. The King of Wren Gardens seems afraid of the strange and often blasphemous concubine and swears the man is cursed. Cheron agrees, especially when Ekos mocks and taunts Cheron’s sense of honor. But the urge to distance himself from Ekos can’t compete with the desire to remain close. Nor is it as strong as the urges in his body—urges he hasn’t felt in years. 

As Cheron tries to refocus on his mission, Ekos throws him off again—this time by offering to help him in his holy quest. Cheron knows he shouldn’t trust a man who’s in the employ of a rival king, particularly not one who seems to know all Cheron’s deepest secrets. But he can’t ignore the signs from the goddess telling him to entwine his fate with this tricky, captivating man. 

He prays the signs aren’t simply wishful thinking, manifestations of his very unholy desires. Time is running out, and Cheron is falling deeper for Ekos—and deeper into danger of another betrayal. One that could cost him his life.

Karen's rating:

I love dragons...my family will tell you 'I love dragons' my friends will also tell you that I love dragons...so when one of those friends poked me and said 'hey, have you seen this. It's a new dragon story and you can get it from NetGalley.' that's exactly what I did.

This is the first book I've read by this author and I was to say the least suitably impressed not only did she give me a dragon story that I enjoyed...she created a dragon that I would honestly love to read more about.

Cheron was simply a rebel leader but now he's a newly crowned king and he's a king on a mission that takes him to the kingdom of Wren Gardens where he hopes to find what he needs to free his goddess. What he finds instead is a very alluring and intriguing love slave named Ekos...a love slave who seems to be more than he appears.

It soon becomes clear to Cheron that Ekos has his own mission but what remains to be seen is can Cheron trust Ekos and will his mission destroy them all.

I loved how spirited Ekos was and how he interacted with Cheron it was very much a love to hate or maybe that was hate to love relationship between these two. Throughout the story no matter how they tried or didn't try they were perpetually being thrown together and found themselves to be allies sometimes willingly...sometimes, not so much.

As well as Cheron and Ekos, I found myself quite taken with Lion and his connection to Ekos was surprising in a very delightful way.

Audio Review: Fish Out of Water #4 - Hiding the Moon by Amy Lane

From The Blurb:

7 hours and 34 minutes. 

A Fish Out of Water/Racing for the Sun Crossover 

Can a hitman and a psychic negotiate a relationship while all hell breaks loose? 

The world might not know who Lee Burton is, but it needs his black ops division and the work they do to keep it safe. Lee’s spent his life following orders—until he sees a kill jacket on Ernie Caulfield. Ernie isn’t a typical target, and something is very wrong with Burton’s chain of command. 

Ernie’s life may seem adrift, but his every action helps to shelter his mind from the psychic storm raging within. When Lee Burton shows up to save him from assassins and club bunnies, Ernie seizes his hand and doesn’t look back. Burton is Ernie’s best bet in a tumultuous world, and after one day together, he’s pretty sure Lee knows Ernie is his destiny as well. 

But when Burton refused Ernie’s contract, he kicked an entire piranha tank of bad guys, and Burton can’t rest until he takes down the rogue military unit that would try to kill a spacey psychic. Ernie’s in love with Burton and Burton’s confused as hell by Ernie—but Ernie’s not changing his mind and Burton can’t stay away. Psychics, assassins, and bad guys—throw them into the desert with a forbidden love affair and what could possibly go wrong?

Karen's rating:

I admit it, if I love a book and you dangle the audio book in front of me...well, it's like putting something shiny in front of an magpie and I am all grabby hands and gimme'. So that explains why I'm once again reviewing an audio book of a book that I've read and I have no remorse about this because history has shown that the odds are in my favor that I'm going to enjoy the audio as much or more than I enjoyed reading the book.

So once again I'm going to borrow from my original review and add a few thoughts about the audio and creating an updated review.

We first met Lee Burton (Burt) in 'Racing for the Sun' when he came to the aid of Sonny and Ace finding not only men in need of his help but friends who would offer him a safe place to go when he needed it for himself or for a rather unusual young man with a talent for knowing things that he shouldn't and for being a diversion that Lee finds he can't live without.

It's not until 'A Few Good Fish' that we meet Ernie. When Burt is given the task of 'taking out' Ernie. He sees someone who is not a threat to national security or a terrorist of any kind but a young man who makes him want and distracts him but Burt tries to convince himself that he needs to walk away from Ernie but the heart wants what the heart wants and for Burt his heart wants Ernie.

ARC Review: How to Run with the Wolves (Howl at the Moon #5) by Eli Easton

Blurb:Zeus loves his job on the new Mad Creek Search & Rescue team, and his inner Saint Bernard is finally being used to his full potential. When he sees a mysterious and wild-looking quickened—a dog shifter—at an earthquake site in Alaska, Zeus is compelled to investigate. Zeus falls hard for the primal beauty of Timo and of Alaska itself. Both call to his deep canine soul. But the Quimmiq pack’s laws are as harsh as the Alaskan winters, and Timo is out of his reach.

Timo’s pack of dog shifters left their Inuit village generations ago and have lived wild ever since. Not trusting the “one-skinned,” and with their numbers dwindling, the Quimmiq are on the verge of extinction. Timo is shocked to discover a whole group of “two-skinned” working as a rescue team, and he is particularly fascinated by Zeus, a gentle giant. He senses what Zeus feels for him… but it’s forbidden.

Can Mad Creek save this lost quickened clan? Perhaps—if they can learn how to run with the wolves.

Jewel's rating:



​What a delightful romp in the Alaskan snow this book was! I have missed Mad Creek and it's quirky and playful inhabitants and How to Run with the Wolves is just the thing to help us weather the summer heat.

Eli Easton has said that How to Run with the Wolves was meant to branch off from Mad Creek and I think her transition from Mad Creek to the wilds of Alaska was perfect. ​Also, ​Zeus, in his quite gentleness and Timo with his frenetic energy were quite the pair. Timo was just clueless enough about his own feelings that he endeared himself to me quite easily.

With this book, the Qimmig are introduced, along with the stunning landscape of Alaska. I've never been to Alaska, but I hope to, some day. The picture the author paints is vivid and crisp and beautiful.

The Qimmig, as legend has it, were once Inuit sled dogs. Their bonds got so ​strong that the dogs became men and for a while things were good, until the human leader demanded they do something awful. Now they live in isolation and the pack is in danger.

Zeus Barkley is a St Bernard shifter. He's lived in Mad Creek his whole life and, unlike most of Mad Creek's inhabitants, finds crowds and overly touchy people a bit off-putting. Nature - that's what makes Zeus feel happy and at peace and his job as a Search and Rescue worker fulfills him. On an S&R trip to Alaska, after an earthquake, is where he first senses and then sees Timo; and Zeus is enthralled.