Review: Seduction (Guardians of the Five Rubies #2) by Shannon West, Victoria Sue

Alek has spent all his life living in his twin brothers’ shadows. He was there to help Kaden when Davv’id betrayed their family and their race, and he could always be relied on to keep Kaden’s business empire running smoothly. It was only when his brother’s personal life started interfering in his own playboy lifestyle that things started to get too complicated.

When things go badly wrong at Alex's father’s funeral, and Matty suddenly goes into labor with Kaden’s baby, Alek and Kaden panic and race to get help. When they’re pulled over for speeding by a big, handsome and very stubborn traffic cop named Max, Alek fears the worst, but Max turns out to be literally a lifesaver. To his horror, Alek is unable to compel the cop to forget all he has seen and realizes that can mean only one thing. The handsome, gruff, and very straight cop must be Alek’s true mate.

Can a cop who says he’s straight overcome his distrust and distaste for a gorgeous vampire and fall in love with him? And can Alek put aside his own bitterness and feelings of betrayal for his older brother Davv’id so the brothers can save the world from the evil force that’s threatening them all? If Alek and Max can stop arguing long enough to listen to each other, they might realize that words are unnecessary when their hearts beat out a rhythm only they can hear.

Title: Seduction (Guardians of the Five Rubies #2)
Author/s: Shannon West, Victoria Sue
Publisher: Dark Hollows Press
Publication Date: November 2016
ISBN: 978-1-944054-84-7
Buy it from Dark Hollows Press

Maria's Rating: ★★★

Okay, I have to be honest: I spent an ungodly amount of time laughing my ass off while reading the first part of the book, where Matty gave birth to his son. I'd blame it on the fact that I was reading the book at 3 in the morning, but now it's 8pm as I'm typing this and I still think that was funny as hell. I have to give mad props to Shannon West and Victoria Sue for trying to explain how a dude gives birth in this particular universe. I don't want to even think about how it happens, but I appreciate their effort. Reading about Kaden fainting during the thing was an unexpected but hilarious bonus; he was just totally useless. And Matty's lacy black panties was a great reference to the first book, it made me grin.

I wasn't a fan of the previous book and I wouldn't call this installment my favorite either, but overall I thought this turned out much better than the first. The misunderstanding was still very much present, because as Max later told Alek, Alek and his brothers are totally shit at explaining all these vampire stuff to human beings. Not that I can blame them. There's a lot to know about their kind, and I think having to explain everything when you're consumed by the need to claim your mate doesn't exactly make a good combination.

Despite this, a big part of the book is actually spent explaining blood thralls, blood angels, Amariska and her history, among many other things. Some people might consider it a bad case of info dump, but I personally liked it. I think it could have been delivered better, but just the same, it provided better insight to vampires and how they lived, what they could do, what they couldn't do, etc. It answered a lot of questions readers might have had after reading the previous book. I think it was also a good way to bring up the stuff that had already been said in the last installment.

This book is shorter than the first one, and honestly I would have liked to see more buildup on the relationship between Max and Alek. I think Shannon West and Victoria Sue tried to do the best they could given the length they were allowed (?), but there was just so much about the book that seemed rushed.

1. I could totally see how Alek would feel betrayed by how Kaden welcomed back Davv'id so easily into their lives. I feel like it could have been that quick, sure, but at the same time Davv'id could have done a bit more instead of just talking his way back into their lives.

2. Max's little speech about his brother Danny was great, but honestly it would have been better if there was a bit of timeskip to allow Alek to absorb that kind of advice. I mean, feeling betrayed by someone you've always supported is a huge thing, and I wish they'd given Alek some room to think things through. Emotions were running high during that scene, and I didn't believe that Alek could be so easily convinced to change not only what he thought about what happened, but how he felt about it. Even if it was Max. Especially since it was Max. I would imagine he would expect loyalty or something from his own mate.

I didn't like Max but I can't say I dislike him either. I think the whole thing just went too fast for him to absorb. He was a bit of an asshole throughout the book, but what saved his character, at least for me, was the introspection - we were given a chance to look at things from his point of view and understand that he was running his mouth because he was scared and confused by all that was happening to him. He had a lot of potential, and I wish they had dedicated more pages to developing him as a character.

All the same, I adored the last part of the book, where Alek and Max were finally reunited. It was done so, so well; I just want give mad props to both authors. It was surprisingly sweet, without being too sweet, and it worked. For all the flaws of the book, it was at that point that I really believed Max loved Alek It was beautiful.

Solid three stars for this book.

Review: Temptation (Guardians of the Five Rubies #1) by Shannon West, Victoria Sue

Vampires are born, not made. Can one night change everything? At a nightclub called Temptations, Kaden, the Saak’da or future ruler of a race living on Earth secretly for generations, is trying to stop a massacre from happening. He’s had a tip that a small disgruntled faction of his people plan an attack that night that will result in a great loss of human life. Kaden is focused, disciplined, and determined to protect the humans who are ignorant to his people’s presence. But when he prevents a tragic accident from happening, one that would have been fatal to the little bus-boy, Matty, he sets a powerful force into motion. Kaden broke the rules about not interfering in human lives because one touch from Matty convinced him that Matty was his fated blood-angel, and that the bond between them would last for the rest of his very long life.

Matty can’t believe his good fortune when a sex-god like Kaden D’Marco wants to take him home. Matty is just a nobody, abandoned and abused as a child, bullied and picked on by his boss at the club. He washes dirty glasses for a living, and he’s never attracted the attention of a man like Kaden.

Kaden has waited a long time for his fated one, but can a man who feeds on human blood find happiness with someone who faints at the sight of it? Can he convince this scared young man to trade a taste of his blood for a love that will last a thousand years and bring him happiness and gifts that he can’t even imagine?

Title: Temptation (Guardians of the Five Rubies #1)
Author/s: Shannon West, Victoria Sue
Publisher: Dark Hollows Press
Publication Date: November 2015
ISBN: 978-1-944054-20-5
Buy it from Dark Hollows Press

Maria's Rating: ★★

This book was a bit of struggle for me. My biggest problem was actually the same as Kaden's dilemma – trying to explain the whole ruask'aa mating to Matty without freaking the human out.

I'm not a huge fan of insta-love, but this book made me realize just how awkward it is when one of the involve parties does acknowledge that yes, this whole thing is ridiculous and can you step away a little from my personal space, please? Of course, it must be said that shifters/mating stories usually involve this deal, which I’m actually okay with, because it can be done. I've read stories that can make you forget that fated mates have barely known each other for a month (hell, a week) but are already professing their undying love for each other, and it doesn't sound the least bit ridiculous. Unfortunately, while Temptation explicitly acknowledges this mating 'problem', it doesn't do anything further than… well, acknowledging that.

The relationship between Kaden and Matty is strained, at best. Their attraction for each other is not up for argument; it's obvious from the very beginning that they want each other. It's when they try to communicate that we see the problem – they can't. Despite being as old as he is (507 years old yay), Kaden fumbles very badly with his words. He is completely incapable of explaining his history and the mating ritual to Matty, and he doesn't get any better even as they move forward. He recognizes this problem, which I actually give him credit for, but other than that he is unable to do anything else but watch hopelessly as the love of his life flees from him in confusion. He doesn’t even explain his feeding to Matty, which is obviously the very basic of mating, since it can kill him. And he certainly doesn’t make things any better by thinking with his dick. Kind of makes me wonder what the future holds for his people, since he’s the guardian and all.

If there’s anything I actually like about Kaden, it’s that he’s aware he’s absolute shit at explaining his life, and he doesn’t pressure Matty into giving into him. Which would have actually endeared him to me, except he chooses instead to make sad puppy faces in hopes that Matty will understand what the fuck he’s on about (e.g. he doesn’t want Matty to go because it’s dangerous, but he doesn’t explain just how dangerous it can be, so Matty is left to his imagination). Oh man. Unlike him, Matty can’t read minds, so maybe he could have moved things along and said what he wanted to say?


I’m not sure how I feel about Matty. I understood his confusion and I found his pink bikini briefs hilarious (because c’mon, it was gold). While I like his independence, I find him a bit too flighty and too impulsive, especially as the story moves forward. He can’t make up his mind about how he feels or what he wants to do, but then again I guess that has a lot to do with Kaden being a confusing fuck himself. The addition of his sister toward the end is silly at best; it struck me as a sorry excuse to get him away from Kaden and get him busy. I wish they’d just established a friend nearby he could hang out with, while keeping the sob backstory about being abandoned.

And don’t even get me started on the number of things that they tried to add to this book. We saw (1) fated mates; (2) dying father who has something important for his heir; (3) rebellion against status quo; (4) vampires/aliens; (5) mpreg (which didn’t actually happen, but was mentioned; (6) estranged brothers; (7) good twin bad twin; (8) guardianship of something super important!!; (9) assassins; and (10) others, which include but are not limited to mind reading, teleportation, dumb attempt at jumping from one building to another, etc.

I’ve finished the book and I'm still not sure what it's about. For one, it doesn’t seem like Davv’id is the villain that he was initially made to be; I doubt he will harm Matty given his experience with his own ruask’aa. Amariska hasn’t shown herself yet, but she wasn’t emphasized enough to hold my attention; I don’t really care about what happens to her. The rubies sound like they're a big deal, but I still fail to grasp just how important they are, because they're simply mentioned like they're not that important. I wish there had been further elaboration on what these rubies can do.

I haven’t read a lot of Victoria Sue to really identify her writing, but I can definitely say I didn’t see much Shannon West in this one. I’ve seen these authors work together so well in Supremacy of Wolves, so this collaboration is a huge disappointment. Especially when they're able to write something as powerful as the following:

When he'd touched him, he'd known. His body had known. His blood had known. Five hundred years and he had given up searching for the one that legend said would complete him, love him, make him whole.

Overall, I didn’t hate the book, not when Shannon West and Victoria Sue can string very powerful words together beautifully. Unfortunately, that's not enough to make this book a very compelling read, so I'm giving it two stars.

Review: Property of the Alpha (Supremacy of Wolves #1) by Shannon West, Victoria Sue

When Quinn, the Supreme Alpha of all the Nine Territories first sees a young man in the arena, he is struck by his beauty and by the fact that despite his chains, he’s barely contained. Quinn recognizes him almost at once as the human who led an assassination attempt on him just weeks before, yet when he tries to take him into custody, he’s shocked to find the human is his fated mate. He has only one option to keep the council from executing the young man for his crimes — to make an example of Aaron, and to debase and degrade him as his love slave so that none of Aaron's followers will celebrate him as a martyr or a hero.

Aaron is on a quest to find his brother, separated from him during the plague that devastated the population, killing seventy percent of all the humans on the planet. When he gets word that his brother is among the rebels, he joins them too, hoping to find him. Instead he gets caught up in a failed assassination attempt on the Supreme Alpha, a strong, powerful wolf shifter who now has Aaron right where he wants him--at his mercy.

Despite his growing attraction to Aaron, Quinn has to try to keep his heart from getting too involved, and when another assassination plot is uncovered, Quinn has to make a difficult decision. He must put Aaron aside despite his feelings for him and imprison him, even though the mating bond between them means Aaron will suffer and die without Quinn. And when Aaron disappears and word gets back to Quinn that he’s dying, he has to take a leap of faith to bring him home and back to Quinn's bed where he belongs.

Title: Property of the Alpha (Supremacy of Wolves #1)
Author/s: Shannon West, Victoria Sue
Publication Date: July 2015
ISBN 10: 1942176864
ISBN 13: 978-1-942176-86-2
Buy it from Dark Hollows Press

Maria's Rating: ★★★★

Having been totally won over by the third installment of this series, I decided I'd reread the first book and write a review as well. Doing so made me realize two things: (1) while it's not a bad book per se, it introduces a lot of questionable 'norms' in this wolf universe that will leave you incredulous and maybe a little disconcerted; and (2) it's a very addicting read – I swear, I've reread it about seven times already, and it just keeps growing on me everytime.

I love Shannon West's alphas. She's at her best when she writes them, and I love her for it. These alphas are always ridiculously good-looking, powerful, and come with nasty tempers. They can be the biggest dicks you ever met, but at the same time – and one of the reasons why I really like them – they can be expected to fight for their mates to the death. The power imbalance is as fascinating as it's tricky; it's a constant source of strife and misunderstandings between alphas and their mates (dominant alphas almost always demand their mates to be submissive), but it also serves as a beautiful reminder that physical strength isn't the one single source of power in a relationship. To put it simply: alphas may talk big and try to boss their submissive mates around, but caring for and protecting their mates are always their #1 priority.

That being said, it should come as no surprise that Quinn is an asshole. He gets better as the series goes on, thank God, but he definitely starts off as a terrible mate material. I believe he's a good alpha as far as having the best interest of his territories at heart goes, but he would have been the last wolf any human would have wanted for a mate. His view of humans is condescending at best, and although I understand that it's the accepted view in this particular universe, it still made me cringe when he all but said that humans are idiots who can't do shit for nothing. Of course, it must be said that history in this universe more than agrees with Quinn, but still...

There are plenty of instances where he treats Aaron very badly, which made it hard for me to like him easily (e.g. Aaron tells Quinn he doesn't like blood or needles, but Quinn insists he knows what's in Aaron's "best interest"). While I knew Quinn would never deliberately hurt Aaron as his mate, I still think he dismissed Aaron's concerns too quickly, like they didn't deserve a thought at all. It's clear enough that he isn't sure whether to spoil Aaron rotten or throttle him headfirst, but the sudden shifts in his actions can be exasperating. Communication isn't one of Quinn's strengths, sadly, and he explicitly says that wolves still don't know a lot about humans, a fact that doesn't help his case one bit. He expects Aaron to follow his orders blindly, even when he makes no attempt to make Aaron understand the reasons behind them. Even the whole mating business isn't explained to Aaron, although I guess that's because Quinn doesn't want him to know how much power he has over him.

It gets somewhat frustrating because we're privy to Aaron's and Quinn's thoughts, and we know that they have a mutual (and almost worrying) affection for each other, but they're too chicken to say anything about it. It's a slow, agonizing burn before they understand what they have between them, because they're both fond of saying one thing despite feeling another. They're scared of giving the other person too much power over them, and it certainly doesn't help that they started off as enemies.

Still, though, I think these conflicting feelings and spoken words make the whole thing work, no matter how twisted. Quinn is a lovestruck idiot, despite being a true alpha, and I think he genuinely wants only the best for his mate. He's really just terrible at showing that he cares because of his massive pride, and he obviously has to work on that, but at the very least I appreciated his cooperation with Jaime/Jay when Aaron's well-being was at stake. He even apologized (even if he was still arrogant about it lol), which I thought was a solid step forward.

One thing that really made me grin about this book is Aaron finally realizing that he has as much control over Quinn as Quinn does over him, maybe even more. It happens toward the end, so it's a bit late, but it means a lot, because even when the words are unspoken it's as if there's a silent understanding between Quinn and Aaron about the power dynamics in their relationship. I thought that was very interesting, and it left a lot of potential for their future as mates.

I can't remember how many times I've reread this book, because like I said it grew on me each time. I don't believe this book is for everyone, but I still consider it a very good read worthy of four stars.

Review: Strength of the Alpha (Supremacy of Wolves #3) by Shannon West, Victoria Sue

When Brandon finally gets his chance to train to become an alpha, he’s ecstatic. His joy doesn’t last long, however, when he soon finds himself one of the two most unpopular of the new trainees, along with a former house-human named Cody. Even their trainers, Rhys and Tucker think they don’t have what it takes and despite a growing attraction to the men, both trainers seem determined to wash them out. Even worse Brandon is more and more convinced that Rhys is his true mate. After a violent encounter with other recruits, both Brandon and Cody find themselves back home, wondering how it all went so wrong. Then Quinn, the Supreme Alpha, comes up with a bold new idea for a Black Ops team, and to Brandon and Cody’s surprise, they’re chosen as members, along with their former trainers Rhys and Tucker.

Brandon and Cody are determined to make good on this second chance, but their alpha partners doubt their abilities to perform their duties. The fact that Rhys is attracted to Brandon almost against his will only complicates things. When the new team is called up, it means Brandon has to work undercover for Mikkail, the hated homophobic bigot who tortured Brandon’s wolf the last time he got his hands on him. It soon becomes clear that the men will have to draw together to become a team or risk losing everything, including their lives.

Title: Strength of the Alpha (Supremacy of Wolves #3)
Author/s: Shannon West, Victoria Sue
Publication Date: October 2015
ISBN 10: 194405413
ISBN 13: 978-1-944054-010-6
Buy it from Dark Hollows Press

Maria's Rating: ★★★★★

Okay, I really, REALLY loved this. Shannon West and Victoria Sue totally outdid themselves with this installment, and I wanted the story to last forever.

I'm ridiculously fond of Alphas despite their asshole-ish, caveman ways, but I really liked Rhys and Tucker. They had their dumb alpha moments, sure, but overall I found them quite endearing. Rhys was particularly infuriating with his insistence on trying to get away from Brandon, but I liked him, and I never had to stop and think 'why the hell would anyone want this one for a mate?' His narrative was solid; being given a chance to read from his perspective made it easy to like him. He was a big ball of contradiction, which made him much easier to relate to. For example, he said he didn't like Brandon AT ALL, but deep down, it's easy to see that 'oops nope he totally lied what a clueless, lovestruck idiot lmao'. It actually made me grin a bit when Cody basically said that everyone already knew how much in love Rhys was with Brandon, except Rhys. That was ridiculously cute. And I probably shouldn't describe an alpha as 'cute'. Not that I'm stopping.

Tucker was intriguing to me. I thought the idea of having human Alphas was very clever, and it was nice to have him as a sort of human representative, proving that not all humans are weak (unlike Quinn's original thought! boo Quinn lmao jk I like that guy). I loved how protective he was of Cody, and I gushed a whole lot whenever he showed it (e.g. when Cody got bullied; when he visited Cody in his tiny room). He was tough and scary without trying, but he was also sweet and thoughtful and super protective - he was PERFECT. I actually kinda wish he'd been turned at some point in the story, just because I wanted him and Cody to have the whole mates deal going on for them, too. But I guess that would kind of ruin the ideas of human alphas. I thought him and Cody marrying in the end was hella sweet, by the way. It was wonderful.

I'm not particularly fond of damsels in distress (or, uh, dudes in distress in this case?), so I was very happy that Brandon and Cody were neither incapable nor in need of rescuing. Their strengths weren't muscle and brawn, but they were both very sharp and skilled, and I really appreciated that. They could do SOMETHING, and although that might not mean defeating their Alphas on the mat, what they did were  actually key to accomplishing what needed to be done for that pack. Sometimes they needed their alpha's help, of course, I won't say they didn't - but these two definitely kicked some serious ass, although not in the traditional way people probably expected them to. They were just the right balance of vulnerable and fierce, and it was BEAUTIFUL. I loved reading about Tucker and Cody, Brandon and Rhys getting together.

I also wanted to commend both authors for writing about two pairs in one book. I thought they found a good mix; one pair was given just as much focus as the other, and it worked well; all four of them came together to tell a very good story.

The only thing that really ticked me off about this book were the editing issues. There were a few places that had some typos and character names were mixed up, etc. I honestly thought the editors could have done better - surely they could have checked that one? It really irritates me to find mistakes like that in my favorite books. Especially since one of the two authors is Shannon West, and she's a big name in this industry and genre, hello. I swear, if there was an opening, I'd totally sign up for DHP to proofread this series prior to release, because I really love it.

That aside, this is still a very good book, and I loved every second of it. There wasn't a lot of sex, which was pretty surprising, but I think it added strength to it, made the emotions more raw and real. I hope we see more of these characters in the future, and I'm definitely looking forward to the next installment of the series.

Solid 5/5.