Savage Desire by Tiffany Roberts

 Did you ever fawn over the orcs of world of Warcraft?

Had a hankering for a big, green, tusked, macho-man?

Wanted to get down and dirty with some Peter Jackson baddies?

…….

….

Well...maybe not that last one.....

Good lord almighty we got a humdinger here y'all. And this is coming from the gal who has been in such an obscenely long and hard (hehe) book slump. Like, Sahara level drought here. I have been craving some sci-fi romance that blows my socks off, And I finally found it.

I went on down to the riva', and T.R. baptized me in the steamy stream of sci-fi romance magic.

What does that mean? Hell, I'm not even sure. But I'm on such a book hype right now that it doesn't even matter at this point. Ain't nothing gonna bring me down.

Thargen is so unapologetically crass, strong, savage, and good gracious all mighty does this orc have a hankering for our h. We get to learn more about the Vorgal species as a whole here, and look deeper into what exactly his 'Rage' is. That burning flame that demands you either fight or F**k.

To make this struggle even more real, the last gal he chose to burn that rage off with, was...kinda messed up by it... Gah Thargen's struggle with his feelings for Yuri was pretty dang entertaining to see grow. It kept you constantly shouting at your book (or kindle in this case) to just get on with it man! She's a Terran! She can handle it!

Our lovely heroine (not the drug just FYI) Yuri, is an incredibly refreshing version of the modern Earth women trying to make it work on an alien planet filled with aliens from alien worlds.

Did I say alien too much? Huh...alien.

Any-whats-N-butts, Yuri was just a simple bartender who happened to have her big, green fantasy man stroll up to her bar and charm the ever lovin' panties off her. She can't look at blood without getting lightheaded, or heaving up a lung (Girl Same), she doesn't really have a filter (Girl SAme), can be incredibly awkward (Girl SAME) and gives Thargen back as good as she gets. All and all, I loved Yuri. And good golly miss molly did I Love me some Thargen. I loved how the attraction went both ways from the get go, how it wasn't someone struggling with how the other appears, but rather liking them period. Which, and Alien romance reader can pretty much relate to at this point.

So, after an unfortunate bar brawl caused by a gang member grabbing at our girl, her and Thargen get drugged and kidnapped and

DUN

DUN

DDUUUUUUUUHHHHH

Put on a slave ship. But without collars. And in the same cell....hmmmmm.

(smallish not so large moment of not-quiet as much entertained. BUT still in no way bad)

Now this is the point where I kind of had to push through, and it's no fault of T & R at all, it's just something that I've read so much of lately, that I'm kinda past it. And that the kidnapped/imprisoned on an alien ship. It's got all the works: fire hose baths, water pods, protein bars, no clothes, a skeevy alien cell neighbor, and the glorified poo-hole. Ahh yes, can you feel the indignation.

Anyways after (view spoiler) and Thargen and Yuri (view spoiler) we find their bond growing, and begin to really bond and grow with them.

I realize if you didn't open the spoilers that whole sentence either looks dirty, or is completely useless jabber. Either way what bliss.

It's sweet, hot, steamy, adevntourous and everything in-between. It sure led this horse to water, and kicked my book dry spell out the bucket. I am soooooo beyond excited for whats to come in the Infinite City series, especially since the next book is a MFM.

Cause whats better than One blue-tailed telepathic alien? Mutha F'n Two blue tailed telepathic aliens! Kier and Kayl come to moma!

This series is a freaking masterpiece that you think couldn't get any better. Time and time again they prove that wrong. I, for one, am incredibly excited to see a MFM for their next book. I think with the bond between Kier and Kayl already established, along with their perspectives where we got to see how uncomplete and wanting for a mate they are, is one of my favorite book tropes ever. The lonely hero (heroes) who no matter how full a room, are always missing that piece of the puzzle. I am beyond excited to see just what is up T & R's sleeves for them.

BONUS : we get to see all the past I.C. family. Including Drakkal. AKA big kitty boyfriend #1. Gah he's just as grumpy as ever.

4.47 "…."You're not going to take me into a dark alley and stab me, are you?" I might. But not with a knife.." stars

The Imp and The Beast by Stephanie Hudson

Okay, sooooooooooo...

I have been in a massive review slump recently and have honestly not found the time to do a whole lot of the Goodreads shindig as of late.

BUT.

My thoughts are a cluster.

I tried to pick another book up and my brain said NOPE.

Not until I review this one.

So here we are.

Let's get into it and lay some groundwork here peeps.

(And also, not dig myself into a massive hole, because holy moley I have seen no other reviews with any of the gripes I've brought to this picnic. My opinion is mine. Leave the hate at home, homies.)

This is now the second book that I have read by this author. I have a deep love of the paranormal/demonic/underworld vibes that are so prevalent today, PLUS if it has romance? Oh baby, count me in.

This book fits that bill pretty well. We have a good basis for what could be a really interesting world with some fun and interesting characters.

Now, I have a difficult time continuing because from here on out I feel the deep and burning need to point out all of the things I liked.

-The back to the past story line (not the present pieces)

-The monster romance

-The web of a supernatural society and its various sects.

I'll be real. There was a point where I was finally jammin' with this book and trucking away!

And then, it ended.

Not my enjoyment of the story, but I mean the book LITERALLY ended.

At a totally bizarre part as well.

It wasn't a cliff hanger.

It wasn't a conclusion.

It was just sorta...........done............. I guess....

And as if you couldn't already tell this is where my gripes begin. Here, in list form, are said gripes:

-The ranting of the main characters internal monolgue

-The jumping between past and present story lines

-The really silly/poor choices of the main character

-The world that I am apparently coming into late and is apparently like several different series' that I should probably have read first...you know... for random character sentimental value....

-The over descriptive writing to describe every little aspect/detail/imperfection of every. single. gosh.darn.character.

Holy Information Overload Batman.

So, I have figured out the writing style for this author now.

And I will be the first to say that, while I dig your story, I Do Not dig your ramble.

You do not need 7 pages of nothing but descriptions of what a character looks like from their eye color down to what kind of socks they are wearing today. There is a way to get the image into someone's head in far less words/sentences/thoughts blehh.

And also, the bolstering of a character, by said character. Holy Gahd Friggin Damn,

WE GET IT. You want us to know she's random, sexy, cute, and psycho.

Good. For. Yoooooooou. NOW, move on with the dang story.

All these things until this point were easily redeemable and made it easy for me to continue reading.

Except for one thing.

The damn inner-dialogue of the main character.

She describes herself as having a "SQUIRREL!" thought process, but holy sh*znit. I literally skipped over almost the entire first half of the book just trying to find when the internal rambles would end. Which I felt like really took away from the story, at least for me. When a character goes on and on and on and on....I start to roll my eyes. And once the eyes have been rolled....There's really no coming back for the character.

This is something I also found in her other series (Hell Hound King). I had such an aggressive eye roll from the inner dialogue in that book that I actually set down book 2 because I just could. not. even. homie.

Does anyone else find these qualities less than entertaining and a total friggin' page skipper?

I think the saving grace in this books case is that I do want to know what the deal with Adam is. Plus, I'm a sucker for a shy, nerdy boy with murderous, rampaging monster tendencies.

Well, this review is a mess, my house is a mess, my thoughts on this book are a mess, but I'll be damned if I'm cleaning up anytime soon.

So off to the next one with fingers crossed that my eyes don't completely roll out of my head before I get to the good parts.

3.00 get-to-the-monster/mashup-love-part-already-willya! stars🎇