Impromptu Review: Sabine...and the Beast, by Moira Rogers

Sabine…and the Beast has a hot, hunky Scottish werewolf as the hero. Go buy the book.

What? You need to know more than that? All right, all right. The book begins with our hot Scot werewolf, Ciar, looking for his mate. He has finally come home from a war with the Lion shifters, having finally formed a peaceful alliance. Ciar expects Sabine to be waiting for him, but she is not there. Unbeknownst to him, his mother had a witch lay a curse on Sabine, because Ciar is High Lord, and Sabine is only a commoner. His mother wants a political alliance, not a love match. The curse was meant to make him forget her, but the spell backfired and anyone she touches forgets Sabine – even her own mother. When Ciar finds Sabine, he proposes that they confront his mother and the witch, but even the witch doesn’t remember her or the spell, so undoing the magic will be difficult.

Nevertheless, Ciar is determined to break the spell, and claim Sabine as his mate and High Lady, so they travel back to his home for a final confrontation. During the trip, they find ways to work around the ‘no touching’ problem the spell has created, and despite the short length of the story, there’s a good amount of plot (and steamy love scenes!) packed into its short length (unlike Ciar’s length…which is lengthier, if you know what I mean, and I think you do).

Sabine….and the Beast is a short story in a series, and I’m looking forward to reading the next one, Kisri, which will deal with the Lion shifters mentioned earlier. It is a solid B+.

Samhain – Kindle – Nook

Impromptu Review: Stone Kissed, by Keri Stevens

Stone Kissed is a nice departure from the usual paranormal fare of vamps, were, and other shapeshifters that are all over Romancelandia right now. Oh, I still love all those other groups, but I picked up the book because I was intrigued – witches really aren’t used enough in paranormals as of late, and I don’t understand why.

Even better, her take on the heroine doesn’t make her omnipotent, though her power is an interesting one. Delia can talk to carved stone, and the statues come to life when she is around. At the beginning of the novel, Delia is estranged from her father, and she gets word that their ancestral home has been burnt down, and that he is gravely injured. She runs home, and finds that his medical care is going to cost a pretty penny.

Enter our broody, hunky hero, Grant. He has a PAST that he won’t talk about, commitment issues, loads of cash and the hots for Delia. He offers to buy the family home and have Delia restore it. After some hesitation, she agrees, and since this is romance land, one thing leads to another, and by that I mean that P goes into V. There are complications, and a couple times I wanted to smack Grant and Delia for their commitment issues. LOL. Also, there is an epic awesome baddie who is just as interesting as Delia, who covets the family estate for her own reasons. I won’t spoil the how and why, but it was refreshing to see a villain who could hold her own as a character – often so many are just one-dimensional baddies.

All in all, I give Stone Kissed a solid B+, and I would definitely pick up another of Ms. Stevens novels.

Carina Press – Kindle – Nook – Kobo