Review: Alexandra Ivy and Laura Wright – Raphael and Parish

Bayou Heat Series:

Books 1 & 2

Raphael and Parish:


 
Purchase on Amazon: Raphael/Parish (Bayou Heat)
(At $0.99 this book is a bargain! that is the price as of today, I cannot guarantee it will remain so)

Summary:
RAPHAEL

The brilliant and dangerous diplomat of the Pantera shapeshifters, Raphael has devoted his life to discovering the key to the infertility that is threatening the extinction of his puma race. Creating a vast network of spies worldwide, he never expected to discover that the answer might be beneath his very nose. But when Ashe, a beautiful human female, crosses his path, his most primitive instincts are stirred. Unable to resist, he takes her to his bed, and is shocked when she becomes pregnant with his child. It’s a miracle that might prove to be the salvation of his people, but only if he can keep her safe from the mercenaries determined to kill her.
 
PARISH
 
Untamed and undeniably sexy, Parish, leader of the Pantera hunters, rarely leaves the magic of the Wildlands to deal with the humans he despises. But with the prized and risky Pantera birth on the way, puma shifter, Parish must travel to New Orleans to find and bring back a human doctor. The moment he sees the lovely, talented and all too human Dr. Julia Cabot he cannot resist the wild, potent drive to make her his. Betrayed and destroyed by love, Julia will not let her heart choose her path again. But as she and Parish fight to save the life of an unborn child, a fierce and overwhelming bond develops between them, threatening her frozen heart with the secret hope and ultimate temptation of love and family.
 
Review:
So this is a new novella series written by two different authors, the first book by Alexandra Ivy and the second by Laura Wright. Both authors are forces within the paranormal romance genre and this collaboration is a match made in shifter heaven.
 
The first novella is about Raphael and Ashe, this one starts 6 weeks after a fated encounter that left Ashe in the family way. This in itself is a miracle because there has been no Pantera child in over 50 years. Raphael is determined to claim both his child and woman! Which starts us off on a fiery, passion filled, action packed rollercoaster ride of a story. A. Ivy packs a wallop into a short piece. No genre can pull off “Insta-Love” like the paranormal genre, because they have mates which makes their union fated! Raphael is convinced that Ashe is his fated mate, but Ashe is not convinced. This creates explosive sexual tension between these two. When all of the sudden it appears that a foe is after Ashe, all of Raphael’s protective instincts. I adored this story, it had everything that makes up a great read and damn was it hot. Ashe and Raphael about caught the pages on fire with their passion!
 
The second story is Parish and Julia. Julia is right out of devastating relationship, where her dreams of a husband and family went up in flames. Parish is sent to fetch a human doctor for Ashe, when he gets to the hospital Julia is not what he expected. Parish is smoldering and brooding and all sorts of sexy! He turns out to be not what I expected. Sure he is hard but he has this sensitive side, which I was not expecting at all. He kind of reminds me of Lucas from Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changling Series, hard, but sweet to those he loves. Julia is a kind of a lost soul a bit, she has just lost everything she wanted and isn’t sure where she is going from here. She never expected to be kidnapped by something out legends. Now she is expected to believe in people that can shift into cats and they want her to be one of their doctors, it’s too much for her to take in. But, there is Parish and there is something about him that calls to her, but she can’t wrap her mind around it. If Julia can open her mind and accept the unacceptable than she can have it all.
 
Rating:

Review: Sable Hunter – Burning Love

Cajun Spice Series:

Book 1:

Burning Love: Harley Montoya/Nada and Beau



Purchase this book on Amazon: Sable Hunter - Burning Love (Cajun Spice)

Summary:
From Goodreads.com
Beau's passion burns hot for Harley Montoya. When he discovers that the woman who has enflamed his libido is the girl he fell in love with so long ago in a runaway shelter, he is overcome with joy. But Harley - or Nada as he knew her - has been burned by tragedy. They both live lives full of adventure. He builds custom weaponry and owns a reptile preserve, and she is an EOD expert - Harley defuses bombs for a living. But nothing is more explosive than the love they share.

Beau is determined to show Harley that he is worthy of her trust and that he is willing to protect her from anything that would cause her harm. But Harley has a mad-man on her trail and she can't walk away from her responsibilities. Bombs, alligators, haunted plantations and Louisiana lore spice up their life, and danger and ghosts from their past threatens to tear them apart - but nothing can put out the white-hot flames of their Burning Love.

Review:
So I have never read Sable Hunter before and grabbed this book while it was free on Amazon from a friends recommendation.  I am so happy that I listened to Dawn (My Let’s Get Romantical partner in crime) and picked up this book. The blurb was intriguing enough that I started reading it immediately and I was instantly ensnared into this story.

Harley is an emotionally damaged woman; her early life has been anything but pleasant. She has exactly one good memory of her early days and that is Beau, the boy she met in the group home.  He protected her and made her feel safe for the first and last time in her life. Harley has managed to carve out a pretty decent if not lonely existence for herself; she is the number one bomb expert in the US and possibly the world. She can demand astronomical prices for her skills as the premier bomb tech.  She has a touch of Psychometry that aids her when dismantling a bomb.

When Harley reconnects with Beau randomly when she walks into his shop she is shocked, her childhood hero is right in front of her and hitting on her.  She feels complex emotions when she sees Bea for the first time in years, the last emotion she expected to feel was lust.  She hasn’t felt lust in... well ever. It confuses and frightens her but it’s her Beau and that makes it ok.  After two traumatic events and several failed attempts at dating Harley is terrified of scaring Beau off, but she knows he is not something she can let go of.

Ah… Beau… one of my favorite males ever! Besides being a sexy a$$ Cajun (my new obsession), the way he handles Harley’s trauma is so endearing. I think I fell for him first when he reacted to Harleys confession and then again when he demanded going to counseling with her. What man volunteers for counseling? Only real men who care about their woman, that’s who! Lol His desire to get it right makes your heart swell. Beau is definitely a man’s man, he wrestles with gators for heaven sake and owns a gun shop, does it get any more manly? He has the typical protective instincts of a true alpha male, but he doesn’t smother.  He knows Harley has an extremely dangerous job, but he doesn’t get in the way. He doesn’t demand that she give it up, but he does state a preference in a switch to consulting work. LOL.

Overall, I think that the author did a fantastic job tackling a difficult subject. She created believable lovable characters. She incorporates a Cajun feel, along with touches of paranormal with the Psychometry and Harley’s haunted house. Even the ghosts add to the story. I devoured this book in one setting and will be looking out for other titles by this author. I give it an A+

Rating:




*This review can also be seen on my other blog Let's Get Romantical