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.