Hello everyone!
For those of you who don't know yet, BookSirens is a site where you can sign up and pick up different ARCs from, from different authors and genres. The only limitations are how many books you can read to start off with, and how long you have for each book before you're asked to supply a review, on the site itself or on Goodreads, Amazon, etc.
I really like it, they usually give you 90 days, which is MORE than enough for 200 pages (rough estimate), and you can find some really cool hidden gems on there!
I've probably run into more than my share of books that I've fallen in love with thanks to them.
But I took a bit of a break over the summer holidays, and am now back to perusing their choices from the shelves, so here we are.
Tonight's pick is definitely one for this spooky autumn, as it deals with the supernatural, and then some.
Tempted by Twilight, from Nichole Wolfe, is up.
I think I have a similar series somewhere on here that I can link down below, but if not then this will stand on its own two legs!
Tempted by Twilight is, from what I can tell, a re-release of a book the author wrote in 2019, but suffice to say this is the first time I saw any of her work, and I have to admit I enjoyed it. Almost too much at that!
The story goes as this: Autumn is a human, and humans have apparently lost the Blood Wars (this was a conflict between them, vampires and werewolves, but it isn't actually detailed much in the book proper and you sort of have to piece things together on your own), so now most of them are kept as slaves by one of the other species.
This is what Autumn's role is, and she's actually a sex slave in one of he packs, until a fight breaks out when another group of werewolves just sort of comes in to kick some doggy bottoms.
Torin, conveniently the Alpha's son of this second group, finds her trying to escape her prison, rescues her, and takes her home with him, but he's got a long way to walk before he can really do anything remotely romantic.
See, Autumn suffers severe PTSD and so needs to be handled with care every step of the way, which often frustrates Torin because she also doesn't speak, having decided to go mute years ago so that her captors would have no satisfaction from her that way, and this is a bit of an obstacle between the two of them (among other things).
Torin's mother reveals that she, too, was once a slave on the same compound that Autumn had been rescued from, so she knows a thing or two about what the girl's going through, and helps coach Torin through it.
Meanwhile his father, Talon, wants him to take the girl back, because apparently he broke a law or something by stealing her, and now the other pack can demand restitution, but as theirs doesn't have slaves, well, one can see the problem.
Torin and every other family member are like A HELL NAW when it comes down to it, and Torin focuses on just trying to make Autumn feel welcome and safe, so she eventually starts seeking him out, slipping into his bed to sleep by his side, that sort of thing. They do need to work through the fact that he's a werewolf, however, because the full moon is practically here, and she believes all of them are monsters based on past experiences. Torin's mother helps her through THAT little misguidance, since Torin is the furthest from a monster, after all.
This is actually when, while looking for Torin's sister who's nowhere to be found, they get attacked for the first time by that other pack, and Torin is badly injured trying to save Autumn.
Of course, just as they're actually on the verge of something, the other Alpha shows up to demand her back, and things go to hell in a handbasket soon after when Torin's village is set to the torch before their timeline is up.
Torin's mother is badly injured this time, and both Torin and his sister are pissed at their father for even now trying to get things to resolve peacefully when peace left through the window a long time ago (they, or at least Torin, are also initially mad at him for having had another kid, Nessie, who is actually a vampire, but her story is told in a prequel which I haven't read yet).
On top of THAT, Autumn gives herself up to return to her hell so that she can save a little girl from being abducted, which means Torin is going to go and save her, but through it all, his father challenges the other Alpha to a Death Duel, which he loses.
However, Torin is the one who ultimately kills him, to transfer his powers as Alpha to himself before the other Alpha can unite their packs, which might have been the end, but oh no, there's got to be ONE MORE ATTACK, of course. This time, however, with how badly outnumbered they are, Torin's sister reveals herself to be Lycana - a female werewolf which is super, super rare and they're coveted above all else among the packs.
She brings up a written agreement that she'll go with the other Alpha willingly if there's a cease-fire, along with some other demands, and the bastard agrees, which breaks the hearts of all of her family members, but there's no way back.
Torin and Autumn finally consummate their relationship and she takes her place at his side as his mate, but truth be told things aren't looking all that rosy for them despite the fact they found each other.
Because with his sister practically selling herself off for peace, how can he ever be happy, right?
DUN DUN DUN! Ending right there!
And well, what can I say, I'm a sucker for a good healing arc, and Autumn's was definitely that!
The story is actually one you've probably seen elsewhere: victim of abuse is held captive by this one Lycan pack, gets saved by a warrior from another Lycan pack, complicates everybody's lives because them stoopid rules for these Lycan packs, and ends up falling in love that leads to some sort of HEA.
Tempted by Twilight DOES have some of the above, but … not entirely.
We have Autumn, who is the abuse victim, so check
We have Torin, who is her saviour, also check.
We have the complication between the two Lycan packs, the added information that slavery is a key disputed thing here, and that this one slave girl could potentially lead to massive problems … check.
Love, double check.
HEA though? Well, not exactly.
See I will say right off the bat that, even though this book IS considered and labelled as a standalone, the ending is written in such a way that you don't actually get all the resolution you'd want, and you NEED to read the following book (which, I hope that it's about the Lycana, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let it be about her). It's not a detriment or anything, but is IS a mild little 'mmph' right at the end if you really want to know what's going to happen.
I did thoroughly enjoy Autumn's characterization, however, because instead of what you'd get in 3/4 of these stories (which is insta-lust turning into insta-love with barely any touching on what happened), Torin actually has to work for it, and Autumn doesn't instantly fall right into his lap. So I enjoyed the progression, and I felt it led to a natural, organic conclusion there.
I was pleasantly surprised that the slavery problem runs way, way deeper than what you'd think initially, and while you're bound to be annoyed with Talon, Torin's father (listen, as far as I know at the moment he's a Class A jerk by characterization, but dang it you need to know how to write them, and the author does that supremely well), you're also HOPEFULLY going to see the loophole they wriggle through at the end of the book before the big reveal happens.
I was thrown with the way they spoke for a while there though, mostly because it sounded frightfully modern in comparison to the fact that they seemed to exist in a more-or-less medieval society with hunting, sword-fights, slavery and the like.
Then someone got called "babycakes" or whatnot and I was there like 'Who invited Danny Zuko to this party?'
BUT all jokes aside, I feel like this is a very good set-up for what's to come, we have good bones here for the story ahead. I'm tempted to read the prequel story about Nessie (I might grab it), but I'm really a lot more interested in the Lycana, to be honest, so I'm looking forward to the release of the next book with anticipation.
However, to the marketing team, or whoever is putting these blurbs for the book on sites: your blurbs give information that is very scarce in the book itself. The Blood Wars is something that wasn't even on my radar until I saw it on Goodreads, so maybe a little more exposition on that would also be a good idea for whatever book comes next. BUT I'll definitely be picking the next one up eventually! So good show.
The story is actually one you've probably seen elsewhere: victim of abuse is held captive by this one Lycan pack, gets saved by a warrior from another Lycan pack, complicates everybody's lives because them stoopid rules for these Lycan packs, and ends up falling in love that leads to some sort of HEA.
Tempted by Twilight DOES have some of the above, but … not entirely.
We have Autumn, who is the abuse victim, so check
We have Torin, who is her saviour, also check.
We have the complication between the two Lycan packs, the added information that slavery is a key disputed thing here, and that this one slave girl could potentially lead to massive problems … check.
Love, double check.
HEA though? Well, not exactly.
See I will say right off the bat that, even though this book IS considered and labelled as a standalone, the ending is written in such a way that you don't actually get all the resolution you'd want, and you NEED to read the following book (which, I hope that it's about the Lycana, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let it be about her). It's not a detriment or anything, but is IS a mild little 'mmph' right at the end if you really want to know what's going to happen.
I did thoroughly enjoy Autumn's characterization, however, because instead of what you'd get in 3/4 of these stories (which is insta-lust turning into insta-love with barely any touching on what happened), Torin actually has to work for it, and Autumn doesn't instantly fall right into his lap. So I enjoyed the progression, and I felt it led to a natural, organic conclusion there.
I was pleasantly surprised that the slavery problem runs way, way deeper than what you'd think initially, and while you're bound to be annoyed with Talon, Torin's father (listen, as far as I know at the moment he's a Class A jerk by characterization, but dang it you need to know how to write them, and the author does that supremely well), you're also HOPEFULLY going to see the loophole they wriggle through at the end of the book before the big reveal happens.
I was thrown with the way they spoke for a while there though, mostly because it sounded frightfully modern in comparison to the fact that they seemed to exist in a more-or-less medieval society with hunting, sword-fights, slavery and the like.
Then someone got called "babycakes" or whatnot and I was there like 'Who invited Danny Zuko to this party?'
BUT all jokes aside, I feel like this is a very good set-up for what's to come, we have good bones here for the story ahead. I'm tempted to read the prequel story about Nessie (I might grab it), but I'm really a lot more interested in the Lycana, to be honest, so I'm looking forward to the release of the next book with anticipation.
However, to the marketing team, or whoever is putting these blurbs for the book on sites: your blurbs give information that is very scarce in the book itself. The Blood Wars is something that wasn't even on my radar until I saw it on Goodreads, so maybe a little more exposition on that would also be a good idea for whatever book comes next. BUT I'll definitely be picking the next one up eventually! So good show.
xx
*image not mine
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