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REVIEW: For A Dragon's Protection by Charlie Richards

11/6/2013

For a Dragon's Protection (Highland Dragons #2)
Author: Charlie Richards
Genres: paranormal historical M/M romance
TBR Reviewer: Amanda
Rating: 4 Stars – Recommended Read
Heat: 4 – Smoking Hot

What's better than a story with men in kilts? One in where half of them are actually shape-changing dragons. In this second novel in Charlie Richards' Highland Dragons series, Ewan MacNiery
comes back to the dragon valley in order to warn his friend that mercenaries are coming to force him back to his father's clan or kill him. Elder Combs, head of the gray dragon caste realizes quickly that Ewan is an Asda (a human that can bond with a dragon) like his friend Ian, and offers to protect him and help him heal. Combs begins to fall for Ewan right away, but Ewan has always been interested in women. Between his denial of the attraction between them and the danger to the inhabitants of the dragons' valley, the two have a long fight to get to anything resembling happiness.

I enjoyed learning more about the dragons, especially the differences between the castes. Ewan is a man
with a lot of loyalty, and the struggle he had in getting to a place where he could accept a male mate made him a very realistic character. There was also a very interesting scene with Combs' tail! I appreciate Charlie Richards' writing and this story is no exception.

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REVIEW: Just Lion Around by Charlie Richards

9/6/2013

Just Lion Around (Wolves of Stone Ridge #19)
Author: Charlie Richards
Length or wordcount: 127 pgs.
Genres: M/M paranormal romance
TBR Reviewer: Amanda
Rating: 4 Stars - Recommended Read.
Heat: 4 - An Erotic Ride.

Valarius is a lion shifter sent to a paranormal conference by his Alpha. The shifters, vampires, gargoyles,
etc., are trying to decide how much to let the world know about them now that their existence has been discovered by the government. While there, Valarius slips away to a local gay club, where following a pull in his gut to the bathroom, he saves Brice from three men attempting to rape him. Valarius
immediately knows that Brice, a human, is his mate and starts to pursue him right away. However, he soon finds out that Brice knows about shifters and dislikes them, due to a horrible incident in his past that introduced him to the paranormal world around him. Val, too, has his past come back to meet his
present and also threaten to interfere in their relationship and even their lives.

This is a part of a long-running series but the previous books are not necessary to follow this one with no problems. Even with the rape attempt and kidnapping in Brice's past, I still found this to be an almost "fluffy" read, perfect for the mood I was in. The insta-love from Val was met with the mate-pull for Brice, but they still had issues to work through and the happily-ever-after took some work. I liked seeing the bad guys from various people's pasts get their comeuppance and the fantastic way Brice came
into his own helping Samson and Helena. This is the type of series I love when my brain is tired and I want to see the good guys fall in love and the bad guys get theirs!

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REVIEW: For a Dragon's Touch by Charlie Richards

7/14/2013

For A Dragon's Touch (Highland Dragons #1) by Charlie Richards
Genre: M/M historical paranormal romance
Length: 105 pgs.
TBR Reviewer: Amanda
Rating: 4 Stars - Recommended Read.
Heat: 4 - An Erotic Ride.

Ian MacGree's father and clan chief sends him to investigate rumors of a dragon that is preventing one of the far-away clans from sending their tithes. Ian goes joyfully, knowing that the longer he is away, the longer it will be before he is forced to marry his betrothed, a woman from another clan. Once he reaches the village, he finds another man also following the rumors, and together they both seek out the truth. Unbeknownst to Ian, though, his companion is himself a dragon, one of a group of shape shifting dragons, and is there to return the young dragon that is risking the secrecy of them all. Roark learns that Ian is an asda, one that can bond with a dragon, and does his best to get Ian to choose Roark and the dragons over his duty to his clan.

This is a great story for anyone who likes both shape shifters and men in kilts! The concept of a
society of dragon shifters that lives near but separate from the humans is not new, but is handled well in this story. The attraction between the two men is quick, but is given time to grow and is tested when Ian leaves for home and again when he is in danger. I thought it was a great beginning to a series.

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REVIEW: Gustav's Gargoyle Adventure by Charlie Richards

4/8/2013

Gustav's Gargoyle Adventure By, Charlie Richards
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Gay Romance, Shifters
TBR Reviewer: Luta Wolf
Rating: 4 Stars - A Recommended Read.
Heat: 4 Handcuffs - An Erotic Ride.

Sometimes it just takes time and gentle hands to heal a wounded soul. Having someone else to lean on helps a lot too. Gustav is doing just that, surviving and licking his wounds, and he’s doing a pretty good job at it with the help of a variety of shifter friends. When he catches the scent of his mate he finds it’s even easier to heal when you have someone who is always there for you.

This is a sweet well-written book about some unlikely shifters getting together and a whole bunch of clutching your stomach humor along the way. There is no angst to the plot but nor is there any villains.
I love Gustav, he’s a gentle giant all the way around. He might have been a victim of abuse but he is shown as realistically handling things and not as a victim but as a survivor. He’s quirks in the book are relatable but emphasized to give added humor, which easily kept a smile on my face throughout the
telling. I love the whole adopted primacy of Tible. It added extra oomph and humor to the story. I wish it had been expanded just a bit more to help round out some of the questions I had as far as how they knew so much about gargoyles and yet didn’t know some important gargoyle information that arises in the book.

I loved the simplistic fun of this book. I enjoyed it from start to finish. There could have been more expansion on certain parts seeing as this wasn’t plot laden, it really needed a little more meat in sections. However, it’s still a really good read that I absolutely recommend to those that need a nice hot
chocolate read once in awhile.

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Review: Hope for a Buffalo by Charlie Richards

6/27/2012

Hope for a Buffalo (Kontra's Menagerie 3) by Charlie Richards
Genre: paranormal romance (unusual shapeshifters)
Length: novella (65 pgs.)
TBR Reviewer: Amanda

In Charlie Richards' series, Kontra's Menagerie, Kontra is a gay alpha bear that has collected a group of gay shifters. The biker gang, made up of all kinds of animals, travel the country rescuing people, especially other shifters. In this third installment, the picture of white buffalo in a traveling exhibit alerts them to a possible shifter trapped in a zoo, and several members of the group, including Caleb (a chameleon), head to see if the sad eyes truly
belong to a person, rather than just an animal. Once they see Emmett, his painful story pulls many of the group into danger in order to save the buffalo that is Caleb's true mate.

I enjoy this series for a fast, quick read with an expected happy ending. The shifters can immediately tell they have met their fated mate by smell, so in a situation with two shifters, there is not any tension in the romance aspect of the story. For Emmett and Caleb, the pressure comes from outside of them, for Emmett's alpha is the reason behind his captivity and a human woman and her children's lives are at stake. The conflict comes to a head when Kontra and the gang travel to Emmett's old herd to rescue them and face down the evil alpha.

I liked Emmett and Caleb - Caleb instinctively gave Emmett exactly what he needed to overcome eight years of loneliness and fear and Emmett was protective of his smaller mate right away. I also enjoyed getting more glimpses into the back story of the whole group and small glimpses of the alpha, Kontra, that brings them all together.

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Review: Finding Balance by Charlie Richards

1/8/2012

M/M, Paranormal, erotica - Novel
TBR reviewer: Luta Wolf

Review

Lyle barely escapes the scientists alive but he definitely doesn’t escape unscathed. He is now a shifter, an aggressive predator shifter. To make matters more complicated when he wakes up, he wakes up to his mate and the heat between them quickly scorches the sheets but if Lyle can’t get control of his animal how can he ever be with Todd.

I’ve found myself addicted to this series, it’s a nice, well written shifter read. However this has to be my favorite installment to the series to date. The plot is unusual, the shifter is a lizard shifter which again is unique, and the characters are impressive. I love the fact that Mr. Richard's characters are never the stereotypical leading men even in the shifter world. The author always flips the switch and makes characters that you can really relate to.

My previous concerns voiced in my last review was not see this time around. The author did a much better job of weaving the other books in the series without out overloading the reader. At no point in time did I feel lost or confused because of missing a book and even though I read the pervious one which held a lot of these characters in it, I’m confident that this would still be able to stand alone.

So I bet your wondering why if I liked it so much that it didn’t get a five star rating. It still hasn’t hit that depth of emotional impact that would make me want to read the story again and I prefer to give five stars to books that I’ll read more than once. However from everything I’m see, I have no doubt that the author will be achieving this in the stories to come. This author is only getting better and I can’t wait to see what the next installment will show.

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Review: Accepting His Human

1/1/2012

M/M, Paranormal - novel
TBR reviewer: Luta Wolf

Review

The word inexperienced has a picture of Drake Whitton next to it in the dictionary with an inscription of never been kissed and doubt it will ever happen. All that’s about to change though and it’s going to happen rapidly. Drake finds himself lost in a chaotic world of high jacking, injury, shifters, and mad scientists but in all that craziness is Ailean and more than kissing is about to transpire. Warning: Not a stand alone.

This is actually a pretty simple shifter tale with an un-original plot but the deliver was so good! Sometimes it isn’t a matter of what is written but how it’s written. It’s the difference between a tone deaf person and a trained singer, singing the same song. Which would you rather hear? The author further expanded on this by not having your average leading characters.

Sure you get nerdy characters here and there but Drake is different in that he isn’t the diamond in the rough that is just ignorant to what other’s see. Which is normally the case when it comes to nerd characters. Nope, Drake really is the antisocial, too skinny, and really non-awe inspiring nerd. He doesn’t grow into himself, he is who he is. So when you see Ailean look at this normal run of the mill nerd and see awe inspiring, well it gave ump to the story.
Ailean is an interesting character because he really is an asshole, to the point that you might not think he is good enough for Drake however this played well with their connection and you really felt that they balanced each other.

The downside to the book is that it really isn’t a stand alone. I’ve read one other book in this series so I wasn’t completely lost and yet there were still points that I went huh because of missing the previous book. I can only imagine how confusing this might be for someone who hasn’t read any of the stories in the series. It’s still readable but a little difficult to understand because the author weaved in pieces of the other stories. I kind of felt that more detail
should have gone into the background stories or the author shouldn’t have weaved as much as she did.

As far as gay shifter romances go, Accepting His Human is top notch.

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Forward>>

REVIEW: For A Dragon's Protection by Charlie Richards

REVIEW: Just Lion Around by Charlie Richards

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REVIEW: For a Dragon's Touch by Charlie Richards

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REVIEW: Gustav's Gargoyle Adventure by Charlie Richards

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Review: Hope for a Buffalo by Charlie Richards

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Review: Finding Balance by Charlie Richards

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Review: Accepting His Human

Review

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