Mated to the Werewolf King

As war looms between the two species, the Demon Lord is determined to find Annabelle – little does she know, the truth behind his sinister actions is about to unravel. When Annabelle discovers that she is not the true daughter of the Alpha in her pack, her world, as she knows it, comes crashing down and she finds herself running to hide from the tyrannical Demon Lord who is hell-bent on finding her.

Despite her objections, she is taken to the court of the Werewolf King. He’s arrogant, stubborn and discerning of her very being, but willing to defend her… for now.

Will the Werewolf King yield to the Demon Lord’s ultimatum and give her to the enemy or will she be the cause of a looming war between the two species? More importantly, what does the Demon Lord want with Belle? She’s only a werewolf… isn’t she? 

Disclaimer; I was provided with a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

DNF 70%

I try to be positive with book reviews, and that goes double for first in a series and/or indie published books, but I just couldn't find much to like here. The blurb above had potential but there wasn't as much inter-species politics and worldbuilding as I'd hoped. The supposed looming war is barely mentioned and there's no real sense of scale outside Belle and whoever is trying to sleep with her in that partiular chapter. I was hoping for armies and scheming and twisted history, but unfortunately there wasn't much to be found outside the so-called love story. Well, unless your a fan of misogyny, toxic masulinity and hugely unlikable "heroines".

The writing style wasn't my cup of tea. Characters literally announced how they felt and a lot of plot elements were thrown in as the story required them rather than being woven through the story to establish the world. This book was very much a character and relationship-driven story, and unfortunately is where it fell apart in a major way for me.

Protagonist Belle is a brat, an idiot and a misogynist. She stomps her feet, sulks and frequently refers to other (pretty and blonde - of course!) female characters as bitches for no other reason than the fact they've slept with the guy she has the hots for. That's pretty much the extent of their characteristation, but what more reason do we need to hate each other, amiright ladies? She had zero autonomy in what was supposedly her own story, however her internal monologue had her seemingly believing she was a genuine, no-nonsense badass. If this was intentional, it could have been downright brilliant, but I suspect it wasn't. Belle is certainly written like whiny teenager, but I don't know if that was intentional or not, because werewolf king Keith is written in much the same way.

Keith (yes, that's right. The big sexy of this novel is called Keith) is a possessive, aggressive asshole who treats Belle like property and/or baggage. He stomps around declaring Belle "mine, mine, mine" like a petulant toddler who's had his favourite toy taken away, shags around behind her back (but it's okay though, because he was thinking of her the whole time!) and abuses and assaults her on the regular. At one point, he forcibly kisses her against her will, then throws her against a wall and blames her for his inability to control himself. And it's passed of as being romantic.

Seriously, HOW CAN THAT BE PUBLISHED IN 2017!? Perhaps it's just bad timing, but given the current climate and discussions around consent and women's rights, this book is downright nauseating. Add in the fact that several Big Bads all want Belle as their mate because she's so super-special, and you've got a recipe for pure rage fuel. The idea that Keith has to "mark" Belle as his before anyone can claim her, at which point all the other guys will lose interest in her, is so disgusting that it makes reading the book about as erotic as being rubbed down with a raw chicken. Their relationship, such as it is, is a mess of toxic masculinity and horrendously outdated romance tropes. The hate-love relationship switched in literally one scene which robbed the story of any anticipation and blew any attempts at making it anything more than story-ordained instalove. Some of my personal highlights of their relationships came in the following quotes;

"You do not touch anybody but me, and nobody touches you." Keith to Belle.
"Why didn't he want me?" Belle, in the middle of a life-threatening trial to discover who or what she really is, when Keith says he wants to get rid of their mate-pull
"Mine," he growled. "You are mine." Keith, channelling hs inner Christian Grey
"I will kill them all. She is mine. Only mine." Keith, on any guy who tries to get close to his property his mate.

I personally found all this revolting and outside it there's not a lot else going on in the book. I should have known what I was letting myself in for with that title. If you're looking for a straight up romance book with a bit of a paranormal twist, you may love it, but my expectations were the other way around, which meant I was often reading bored or angry. Your mileage may vary.

Sunday Street Team - This Mortal Coil

Catarina Agatta is a hacker. She can cripple mainframes and crash through firewalls, but that’s not what makes her special. In Cat’s world, people are implanted with technology to recode their DNA, allowing them to change their bodies in any way they want. And Cat happens to be a gene-hacking genius.

That’s no surprise, since Cat’s father is Dr. Lachlan Agatta, a legendary geneticist who may be the last hope for defeating a plague that has brought humanity to the brink of extinction. But during the outbreak, Lachlan was kidnapped by a shadowy organization called Cartaxus, leaving Cat to survive the last two years on her own.

When a Cartaxus soldier, Cole, arrives with news that her father has been killed, Cat’s instincts tell her it’s just another Cartaxus lie. But Cole also brings a message: before Lachlan died, he managed to create a vaccine, and Cole needs Cat’s help to release it and save the human race.

Now Cat must decide who she can trust: The soldier with secrets of his own? The father who made her promise to hide from Cartaxus at all costs? In a world where nature itself can be rewritten, how much can she even trust herself? 

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About the author

Emily Suvada was born and raised in Australia, where she went on to study mathematics and astrophysics. She previously worked as a data scientist, and still spends hours writing algorithms to perform tasks which would only take minutes to complete on her own. When not writing, she can be found hiking, cycling, and conducting chemistry experiments in her kitchen. She currently lives in Portland, OR, with her husband.

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Ten things Emily Suvada would tell her past self when she first started writing

#1 - Don’t write what you think people want to read!
This one is SO important. If you try to write to the market, or to what you think people will want to read or buy, you’ll never find your own voice, and your work will probably be out-of-date. If a book takes a year to write and sell, it’ll probably be at least another year before it’s released - sometimes two. That’s up to three years between an idea and its publication. By that time, any trend you were chasing when you started will be over. You also won’t be able to find your own voice if you’re trying to match the tone or focus of the market, or what you think people want to read. I sat down and wrote This Mortal Coil and accepted from the beginning that it could be a tough sell - it’s a wild book - but that allowed me to really find my voice and have fun with it. If I’d done this years ago, when I started writing, maybe I could have saved myself some time!

#2 - Industrial-grade earmuffs are your friend.
I find noise really distracting while writing, so I often write with white noise tracks playing through headphones. When I need silence, I wear the kind of earmuffs that people use while operating heavy machinery! They’re pretty cheap, too - and comfortable!

#3 - Critique partners and groups are the best!
The two most important things you can do for your writing are giving critique, and seeking it out. Giving critique is a magical thing - you often notice weaknesses in other people’s writing that you then realize are in your own, even though you hadn’t noticed them before! It’s extremely illuminating, and sharpens your ability to edit your own work. Receiving critique can be tough at first, but it’s a crucial step to take and become comfortable with. You’ll be amazed at how deeply other people can understand what you’re trying to accomplish with your work - often they can see it more clearly than you! So many of the best parts of my writing came about through suggestions from my critique partners and later, my agent and editors.

#4 - Other writers don’t bite!
If you’re part of an online writing community, either on social media or another platform, you’ve probably admired other writers from afar - both published and aspiring. Generally speaking - writers are very friendly and love to connect with other people who share their interests! They’ll probably love you reaching out to them, and may even offer advice or become your friend. This can make you feel like a real part of the community and help your motivation.

#5 - There are so many incredible people in the writing community to learn from.
Following on from #4, even if you’re not comfortable interacting with writers, being part of the community online is still important. There are discussions taking place in YA twitter every day about important issues that are shaping the landscape of the childrens’ book world - making it an inclusive, diverse and meaningful space for all readers, while also highlighting ways to help independent booksellers, libraries, and offering advice for authors in this fast-changing digital world. There are authors and community members whose combined voices offer an education that can’t be found anywhere else. Follow them, learn from them, and support their work and their books!

#6 - Find your tools!
There is more to life than Microsoft Word. Try out different writing software, like Scrivener, and look into distraction-free software and tools. Try drafting or editing on paper. Your writing methods can have a big effect on your craft - so try as many methods as possible!

#7 - Don’t edit while you’re drafting.
Drafting is not editing. Drafting is drafting. Edit once you have a draft. If you’re only going to listen to one point on this list - make it this one. You’ll thank me!

#8 - Be prepared to keep secrets for a looooong time
Publishing is a long, slow process, full of secrets that you’re not allowed to share. Deals fall through, titles change, books are altered and delayed. Sometimes contracts can just take a really, really long time to get signed. Some secrets - like a new book deal, a cover, or exciting film or foreign rights news - can feel like they’re going to make you explode, but part of being a professional writer is keeping your lips sealed. It’s not easy.

#9 - Celebrate when you can!
Following on from #8 - in this industry, it often won’t feel totally right to celebrate exciting news. Deals might come together slowly, with constant risk of them falling through. Do you celebrate when you strike a deal, when you sign your contract - or when you announce? Do you celebrate sending the book off to copyedits? What about first pass pages? There are so many small milestones, none of which might feel “big” enough to pop open champagne for. My advice is to go with those mini champagne bottles, or fancy desserts, or take-out - celebrating whenever you can. You’re only going to debut once, so enjoy it!

#10 - People are going to love your book one day, and it’s going to blow your mind.
No, really. People are going to read your book, and some of them are going to “get” it, and love it, and talk about it. There is no preparing you for this feeling. I didn’t know I could have so much love for so many people. Putting this book into the world and seeing people connect with it has transformed my life. I feel like my heart has grown a thousand times, trying to fit so many wonderful readers into it. There’s nothing quite like it - it’s what writers live for!

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An Enchantment of Ravens

Isobel is a prodigy portrait artist with a dangerous set of clients: the sinister fair folk, immortal creatures who cannot bake bread, weave cloth, or put a pen to paper without crumbling to dust. They crave human Craft with a terrible thirst, and Isobel’s paintings are highly prized among them. But when she receives her first royal patron—Rook, the autumn prince—she makes a terrible mistake. She paints mortal sorrow in his eyes – a weakness that could cost him his life.

Furious and devastated, Rook spirits her away to the autumnlands to stand trial for her crime. Waylaid by the Wild Hunt’s ghostly hounds, the tainted influence of the Alder King, and hideous monsters risen from barrow mounds, Isobel and Rook depend on one another for survival. Their alliance blossoms into trust, then love, violating the fair folks’ ruthless Good Law. There's only one way to save both their lives, Isobel must drink from the Green Well, whose water will transform her into a fair one—at the cost of her Craft, for immortality is as stagnant as it is timeless.

Isobel has a choice: she can sacrifice her art for a future, or arm herself with paint and canvas against the ancient power of the fairy courts. Because secretly, her Craft represents a threat the fair folk have never faced in all the millennia of their unchanging lives: for the first time, her portraits have the power to make them feel.

I've been dying to get my hands on An Enchantment of Ravens for a while now. I absolutely loved the concept and it sounded like if offered more than enough twists on some of the fantasy genre staples. And it absolutely delivered! It reads like a beautiful fairytale, but it doesn't take long for the cracks to show themselves and reveal a darkness below the surface. Rather like the story's "fair folk", who hide their repulsive true forms beneath a facade of beauty and youth, there's more here than meets the eye.

In recent years, faeries seem to have undergone the same nice guy makeovers as vampires. Far from being the monstrous creatures of myth, they're now portrayed as misunderstood, smoldering love interests whose possessive nature is passed off as romantic. For someone who grew up on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, believe me when I say vampires used to be cool. Ever since Twilight however, they've been something of a joke in pop culture; reduced to a punchline.

This story takes the fae back to their roots. Little details, like Rook not considering the fact that Isobel needs to eat or she'll die, and Isobel's early fae patron Gadfly talking about seeing a mortal "just the other day", when the man in question has in fact been dead for over 300 years, bring a realism that's sorely lacking in most fae-centric fantasy books. We're talking about a 17 year old human (because they're always 17!) and a centuries old faery, and more often than not the only reference authors give to their differences is bright eyes, pointy ear and maybe the odd fang. So I loved the realism in this book - if it can be called such a thing! The author has clearly done her research. There's a lot of inspiration from celtic mythology, but it goes far beyond character and place names. The concept of faeries as inhuman tricksters who are little more than withered corpses behind their glamour is pure old-school mythology and I loved it. I'm sick to the back teeth of fantasy novels romanticising faeries as a bundle of bulging biceps, smoldering eyes and toxic masculinity. After a glut of popular novels following this formula, An Enchantment of Ravens feels fresh.

Sure, the world-building does feel undeniably thin - there's so much that is mentioned in passing that practically begs to be explored - and the pacing of the story is lean almost to a fault, but it's nice to read a simply story told well, without feeling like the author is setting up sequels and novellas and spin-offs. I'd love to have known more about the Winter Hunt and the deliciously smarmy Hemlock, but those things wouldn't have been relevant to the story. The glimpses we do see - of a world trapped in eternal summer under the rule of the alder king and forests plagued by monstous, rotting abominations created from fae magic - offer hints of the world beyond Isobel and Rook's journey. On one hand, I really wanted to see more of it, but at the same time I admired the fact that the author focused solely on her story without getting distracted by useless side quests and pointless backstory.

I loved Isobel as a character! She was smart, resourceful and brave, and her wiley tricks for dealing with the fae made the idea that she could fall in love with one all the more hard-hitting. This clearly couldn't be some childish infatuation or romantic ideal; the character was simply too grounded for that. It was interesting to see a heroine actually confront and see the grotesque reality of eternal life. Again, sorry to keep banging this drum, but many authors seem to think that trapping their character like a bug in amber, keeping them young and beautiful forever, is somehow romantic because they can't deal with the sometimes unpleasant realities of mortality and ageing.

Isobel sees the chance of ageless eternity as a fate worse than death; a curse that will cost her the very thing that defines who she is and condemn her to an endless life of emptiness and detachment. It's an interesting take on the usual trope - rather than becoming a unique and special snowflake, that's exactly what Isobel doesn't want.

Rook was ... okay, I guess.The standoffish autumn prince was a bit too cold and inhuman for me to get hooked on initially, but he got better as the book went on and he started to thaw. He didn't really stand out as a particularly memorable character, which made it a bit hard to understand why Isobel fell so hard for him. Still, I did like the balance he struck in being protective without being possessive. Things started to fall apart for me however about three quarters of the way through when the story turned to Isobel and Rook confessing their love for each other and having to face the consequences of breaking the Good Law. I just did not feel for one second that this pair were in love. Sure, they say it a lot, but actions speak louder than words and, save for a bit of kissing, there's nothing in the pages that made me feel anything close to love between this pair. Maybe because both are so cold - Isobel has been raised to guard her life around faeries and Rook is an inhuman being who doesn't understand basic human concepts like eating and needing to sleep. There was no heat, no passion. I enjoyed Isobel's thought process as she dealt with being in love with Rook, acknowledging how ridiculous it was, but I still didn't feel it.

Despite the story being the Isobel and Rook Show most of the time, the supporting characters, when they popped up, were fantastic. Isobel's goats-turned-human-thanks-to-magic little sisters, March and May, were cute, and her fae patron Gadfly was an adorably absent-minded sweetheart (before twists in the story later on revealed him to be more of a trickster than Isobel ever imagined). Gadfly's niece Lark fitted the creepy kid quota perfectly - from turning Isobel into a rabbit and treating her like an exotic pet, she reminded me of Claudia in Interview with the Vampire; cute and childlike on the outside, but turned cruel and vindictive by her resentment at being an eternal child.

The ending was pretty abrupt and I'm still not sure if it set up a happy ending or not, but it was a near perfect end to a wonderful story. An Enchantment of Ravens is a whimsical fairytale that manages to feel traditional and fresh at the same time.