As “Wolf Mate” left me struggling to search for who might have wanted Skylar so bad they would ambush her and spirit her away. For what purpose? Good or bad? Who? And why would a friend betray her? So many questions left me hanging. But Jen L. Grey is a storyteller that can twist a tale so you might never guess where she is going until she leads you there.

And so, on to “Wolf Bitten” which is now available today. The story picks up just as she left us in “Wolf Mate” and delves deeper into Skylar’s magic, how she landed at EEU and the changes within her as she slowly evolves. But Rafe is close behind as he has realized that his interest in her isn’t just going to go away. This tale just gets richer , more involved and oozes drama everywhere. I highly recommend you check this trilogy out, with the final tale coming out on the heels in June. 

 Wolf Mate by Jen L. Grey

All of us are different, each in our own way, we are unique. Within the world of supernatural beings, wolf shifters, vampires, and witches they believe there are only humans outside their realm. But they are wrong. There is Skylar…

She’d always known she was adopted, that her parents loved her in their own way, but were slightly uncomfortable with the weird things that happened around her when her emotions started amped up.  By Kindergarten even someone she believed was a true friend turned from her labeling her strange. Her only comfort came as she escaped to the woods. As she reached into the ground it seemed to calm the blood that jolted within her. The ground would stop shaking and the wind around her calmed. Even as the animals gathered closer to her, she felt a sense of peace. It was why she wanted to become a vet. Her empathy for animals and their affinity for her.

After completing two years at a local college, Skylar was offered a full scholarship at an elite college that could put her on the fast track to veterinary school. Her parents were so delighted they practically shoved her out the door. She’d even emailed her designated roommate, Lucy, a few times and she sounded so friendly.  At twenty-two Skylar began to hope she might make a friend and things would be different at EEU.

 However, Lucy took one look at her and ran to try to change rooms with someone else. Rafe Wright, the hero of the football team, singles her in front of others for his special form of sarcasm. Then does an about face when he catches her alone. He gives her his number with instructions to contact him if she gets in trouble. Like cold and hot wind blowing over her making life on campus even worse. Controlling her rioting emotions after a particularly embarrassing encounter with Rafe stirs her blood, her desk begins to shake, lights to blow and even the ground to shake. Her only thought is to escape. There are woods behind the dorms, a haven with animals and nature that draw off the magic that zips through her. But the woods here aren’t a saft environment. Skylar soon learns there are creatures here she believed to only exist in mythology.
Skylar never learned to control the magic within her or the plethora of incidents that happen around her, but help may be closer than she knows. Someone on campus knows exactly what she is and is even willing to train her in ways to harness her power. It is a roller coaster ride of a tale with Rafe appearing to care, coming to her aid one minute only to turn on her in front of others making her look like a fool. Slade is a witch who has his own motives for helping her but shares the truth behind EEU’s unique mix of supernaturals and humans who attend. There is animosity even between the different species of supernaturals but their greatest fear and unbreakable rule is “humans must never learn of them.”  Some see Skylar as a threat that should be eliminated, while others see her as a tool to be used for their own ends.

This book took a different route from other books with supernatural beings in the worlds of Jen L Grey I have read. This time she brings us a magical being whose abilities I have never seen and appear to be evolving. While slowly learning more about Skylar, there is also a forbidden romance building between her and Rafe. Things are constantly moving and changing clear up to its cliffhanger ending. The characters had me second guessing myself with their secrets and swiftly changes responses to Skylar from one time to the next, storylines that veer off in several directions, forbidden romance, villains, and power struggles that had me reading, while enjoying the audio version, with Marnye Young narrate the tale, far into the night. I got the sense of a storyteller sharing a story with me not simply reading it. Emotions, high and low, vibrated as Marnye voiced the characters in all their moods. She is easy to follow along with as she spoke and the tale flowed through her words. Both the book and the audio are available. I am looking forward to see where this story will take me.

      “The Lost Girl”

 by Casey L. Bond

Blurb: 
Welcome to Neverland. Where shadows consume and magic is frighteningly real.

 

Ava is struggling to provide for herself and her sister, who slips further into insanity with each passing day. Raving about Neverland. Obsessed with a Second Star that Ava can’t see in the black, velvety sky. Until the night Belle succumbs to the terrifying shadows plaguing her and sweeps Ava away to a land that is only supposed to exist in storybooks. 

 

Neverland is real. And so is Peter Pan.

 

He's grown from boy to man, wielding a terrible power he uses to rule the island. When he senses Ava’s presence and sends his Lost Boys to collect her, a dashing captain with a silver hook for a hand comes to her defense. He offers her protection aboard his ship, and the help of his crew to find Belle before Peter and his Lost Boys do. But what he asks for in return might be more than she or her sister can possibly pay. 

 

Belle once stole something invaluable from Peter Pan, something Hook and his crew need if they’re ever to escape the cursed island’s thrall. And despite their undeniable attraction, Hook will do anything to claim it before Pan can. 

 

“An utterly enthralling retelling that will leave you breathless and begging for more!” – Jenny Hickman, author of A Cursed Kiss

 

Book Links: 

Amazon: 

Universal: https://geni.us/TheLastLostGirlLAR

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/206725094-the-last-lost-girl

 

Tropes:

A glorious, morally gray anti-hero

Allies to Lovers

Pirates

Shadow magic

Touch her and die

Dark curses

Forced Proximity

One Bed

Betrayals

Lost Memories

Ancient Evil

Dark Secrets

Fantasy Creatures

Deadly Flora

 

Triggers: Suicide ideation of secondary character, death, violence, gore, adult language, consensual sexual content, kidnapping and captivity, brief and vague reference to history of child abuse of minor character.

" Wings of Ink "by Angelina J. Steffort

          Fort Perenis, a Gaurdianforsaken place …

 Nine months in a cell where the darkness never comes to light, the cries of those being dragged to the gallows, the nightmares, the whispered tales of feathered fairies searching for women, brides, that go missing and never return and the pain in my bad hand. The hand that had been broken when I struggled to escape the guards. The pain of watching Ludelle, my love, executed before my eyes. I couldn’t save him, or any of the others of the Wild Ray. I am the last. Why does the General keep me alive?

 
Then the guard stops outside my door, enters, and bids me move. The General has found a use for me at last. A creature out of nightmares with black feathers for arms, claws for hands, his face more bird than human has come to take me to Askarea, the fairylands. The tales of brides are true, and I am to be the next sacrifice. I awake in a room when a voice calls out to ask if I am alive. Like the one who brought me here, but more human in appearance. This is the Crow King, the beast I am to marry.

 Escape is foremost in Ayna’s mind, but there is no escape. She will be no meek submissive bride, but Myron, the Crow King, has promised her he will not force her into consummating the marriage as long as she presents herself as trying to comply with his dictates. She must always have a guard when she leaves her room, she is not allowed to leave the castle. There are those among the crow fairies that would see her dead. There is a curse on these people and the brides are the key to breaking it. There is history that is slowly shared as Ayna tries to become accustomed to Myron and her new life. She refuses to back down even in the face of the hatred many hold for her and will slowly come realize the dark haunts Myron and even he struggles to keep it at bay. There is something about him that makes her want to be close to him, to reach out and help.

 Angelina J Steffort has reimagined the tale of Beauty and her Beast bringing the darker side of the tale to us where curses have turned fae into gruesome beasts, dark magic has a hand on Myron’s throat, adventure leads to haunting dange, where hope and love dares to grow in a forest filled with evil, and revenge.  Ayna won’t be taken without a fight. She has spirit and despite the torture, heartache, and pain she has faced she will not back down. Her empathic voice is clearly heard throughout the book. Myron, is a bit harder to read. His inner thoughts and feelings are more hidden. Thankfully this isn’t a simple tale. It is filled with deceit, complicated hidden hope, dark times and like a rose that grows in concrete love will find a way to bring light to the dark heart of the Crow King. If I have one discord, I would have liked to hear more of Myron’s thoughts/impressions in order to garner a better understanding of him. He was a bit of an enigma that I want to learn more about. In so saying…

    I only came up for coffee, this book entwined itself so much around me, held me to the end and dropped me on my butt. How did it end so quickly I wasn’t ready. With cliffhangers I guess I never am. I highly recommend this paranormal tale, especially if you enjoy your Grimm’s Tale unaltered.

 

 

Midnight Waters 

           by Rosie Wylor-Owen

One is born, one will die

 On the island of Dusk two families of witches had a long history of hatred for each other the Arrowoods and the Everharts.  A hatred so malevolent that one member of each family would commit murder, one using the Tree of Life and the other a dryad as an instrument of death. Now generations later these two families still pay the price for their ancestors’ act of vengeance.  A curse that brings death. Each time a new child is born or adopted into the families of the Arrowoods or Everharts a member of their family dies.

 

Maeve Arrowood had been driven away from Dusk after high school.  Growing up with the threats of death, in the middle of the deadly feud with the animosity between the families, she’d only wanted some peace. Her affinity for water made her the ideal person to work with Nexus, a department of law enforcement in London retrieving bodies from watery graves. Now she was home again because a child was soon to be born. If it was her time to die, she wanted to be on the island. If it was her father’s, she wanted to spend what little time was left together. Both survived this birth, but her uncle didn’t. News spread quickly in Dusk. Maeve ran into two Everhart sons, Ben and Adrian, on the street shortly after. Adrian immediately started taunting her and cheering over the death. This is why she had stayed away for so long.

 Her uncle wasn’t the only death on Dusk it seemed. A body had been found on the rocks within the boundaries of the merfolk. Since there had been problems with tourists the merfolk had closed their waters to all. As a former employee of Nexus, the police chief in Dusk asked for Maeve’s assistance to bring the body to land. In the past Maeve had been friends with the merfolk. So, requesting permission to retrieve the body from their waters was left up to her. Told by Janeria, the queen of the merfolk, that some had seen Tyler, the young man, pushed off the cliff onto the rocks. However, since the distance had been too far to see the murderer Janeria wanted her people left out of this situation. For this reason, Maeve couldn’t tell the Chief, what had been seen, Tyler’s death was ruled and accident. Maeve couldn’t let it go; Tyler had been a friend from school. Unfortunately, he had been an even closer friend to Ben Everhart, who was now out for blood, refusing to believe it an accident.

 Ben Everhart would reluctantly team up with Maeve to find the murderer and the reasons behind Tyler’s death. If either of their families saw them together there would be the devil to pay. If this had been their only contact with each other, they might have gotten away with it. Until they both ended up at a dating agency whose unique introductions used magical masks that hid their identities for the first three dates. It seemed that Ben Everhart and Maeve Arrowood were an almost perfect match. Let the adventures begin.

 The unique story plot had me swimming in very deep waters watching for something to come up and pull me down. Maeve’s closest friends are a delight, one a fairy, the other a dryad, while sharing their unsolicited advice and help. The families on both sides come off as strongly opinionated, at times unreasonable, unwilling to even consider a means of ending the curse but also had strong loving ties. Both families live as many families did eons ago, supporting each other living in one huge dwelling. Adrain’s anger is right up there like a volcano ready to explode and not easily controlled.

  The animosity is palpable and at times felt like an extra character that walked beside them. But the pull between Ben and Maeve during their time together on their dates before they realized who they were was equally strong. There is the mystery of Tyler’s murder but by the end of the tale I was rooting for Ben and Maeve to find a solution to end the curse or at least break away from their family’s cruel disregard for their growing feelings. Shades of Romeo and Juliet that lead us into the next part of this trilogy. If I had any discord, it would be that at times by their dialogue and actions, Maeve and Ben seemed to me more older teens than young twenty somethings. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the stories and I can recommend this title. I believe some older teens would enjoy it as well but there is encounter between Ben and Maeve that becomes heated.

 Cheesecake Supreme Better Homes and Gardens 1960

 Crust

 1 cup sifted enriched flour

¼ cup sugar

1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

½ cup butter

1 slightly beaten egg yolk

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine first 3 ingredients. Cut in butter till mixture is crumbly. Add egg yolk and vanilla; blend well.Pat 1/3 of dough on bottom of a 9-inch spring-form pan (sides removed). Bake at 400 degrees about 8 minutes or till golden; cool. Attach sides to bottom, butter; and pat remaining dough on sides to height of 1 ¾ inches, leaving space at top to expand.

 Cheese Filling:

5 8-ounce packages Philadelphia cream cheese

¼ teaspoon vanilla (I use 1 teaspoon)

3/4 teaspoon grated lemon peel (you can use lemon juice 1 teaspoon)

1 ¾ cups sugar

3 tablespoons enriched flour

¼ teaspoon salt

4 or 5 eggs (1 cup)  [I use large and 5 eggs]

2 egg yolks

¼ cup whipping cream

 

Let cheese soften at room temperature [this is a must, or you can get lumps in cream cheese or over beat it], 1 to 1 ½ hours. Add vanilla and lemon peel. Mix next 3 ingredients; slowly blend in. Add eggs and yolks one at a time; beat after each just to blend. Gently fold in whipping cream.

Turn into crust-lined pan. Bake at 450 degrees for 12 minutes; reduce heat to 300 degrees, bake for 55 minutes. Allow to cool. Loosen sides with spatula after ½ hour. [carefully run a knife or blade spatula around before loosening the sides, do not remove them yet]    Remove sides at the end of an hour. Cool 2 hours longer. Glaze with Pineapple or Strawberry Glaze.  [I don’t but I have the recipe for the strawberry if you want it or use premade strawberry glaze.

 

 

 

            Of Elves and Embers

   by Elle Madison & Robin D. Mahle

Brush up your Greek Mythology…and jump into the tale of Ember a princess who gave her life for her people, and prince who lives with shadows and bitter regrets.

Ember had grown up as a human, in the world of hard knocks, but had finally found her art and love in the tattoo shop she owned. Her uniquely beautiful art decorated her own skin, even more so when she was brought to the realm of the elves. Held in the strange world of winter cold, surrounded by fantastical beasties, seemingly unwanted, except for the use of her isos, told she could never return to the human world , could she deal with the realization that she was one of them. They were wrong, they had to be. Her human mother had traumatized  Ember as a young child by loving shared the video of her birth. They’d highjacked the wrong girl!

Now facing, Hadeon, the Shadow King, who had been responsible for bringing her to Aelvaria his presence raised feelings of “hatred, panic and desperation.” Ember couldn’t understand her reactions, since she had no memory of him or this land. It appeared the Hadeon wasn’t any happier to see her either, but they needed her. She was told that she was the reincarnation of Princess Phaedra who had given her life, along with seven other princesses, to return the lost magic to the land, destroyed in the great war, and to save her people.

Though her isos, magic, she was told she had wasn’t in any hurry to reappear, within a short time Ember found that her ears morphed to a point, in her anger at one point her flame colored hair erupted into flames. She may not want to believe in reincarnation, but even her dreams started to prove her wrong. In bits and pieces, she dreamed of a life she had no memory of in her waking hours. She would train with the Hadeon and his cousins, Celani and her brother Kallius, since she had known them in her other life. The hopes were that her isos would come to life, when she could learn to control it. Dark creatures called wraiths, fed on the souls of the people. So far Hadeon and his soldiers were able to hold them at bay, but they were coming ever closer and they need Ember to gain her magic in order to join the fight to destroy them.

Besides the dangers that face Ember, her dreams begin to bring the realization that as the Princess Phaedra, she and Hadeon had been very close. What had changed his feelings to the hatred, he appeared to have for her now?  While at times she saw a longing in his eyes when he looked at her, it that disappeared quickly. Fantastical, creatures from Greek Mythology roam the pages with their own personalities on show. I laughed, stewed over Hadeon’s stubborn refusal to admit that he cared for Ember, enjoyed the banner, intrigued by the situations and trials they all faced not only with the wraiths but their search for the means to restore The Never Court whose land was now uninhabitable. I found my self wrapped up in the lives both past and present of the characters, my heartbreaking for what had transpired in the past. I loved the creatures, some I hadn’t seen outside of mythology.

This is fourth book in "Forgotten Kingdom" series and the authors have blended their story beautifully with the others before it. As the story spins out, characters feelings and memories slowly evolve, dangers step up, friendships once again bloom and though Hadeon and Ember’s trials and battles come to completion in this book I enjoyed to cameos of Ivy, Aria and Kage that tie them into the previous tales. The story is never dull, while I kept waiting for Hadeon to take his head out of his butt, Ember struggled valiantly to control her isos, make sense of her memories, deal with her feelings for Hadeon in the face of his determination to not allow his feelings for Ember to surface. And here is the slight discord I found with the tale. I understood his reluctance, in part, but felt he over played his anger and hurt feelings.

I loved the story and both authors brought a new perspective to the series while making it a seamless transition on to the next storyline. Although, each book is penned by a different author, each giving the story at the core their own twist, they flow beautifully into each other.  I highly recommend all the books that have come so far, and look forward the upcoming story….so I can start at the beginning and read them all again.