The Falcon Prince (Princes of Jikkar, #3) by Rebecca Goings

THE PAGAN & THE PEN BOOK REVIEWS

Title: The Falcon Prince (Princes of Jikkar, #3)
Author: Rebecca Goings   

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Publisher: Carnal Passions

Genre: Erotic/Fantasy/Romance

Length: 149 pgs.
Reviewed by: yadkny

RATINGS FOR:

Cover: 5

Presentation: 5

Editing: 4.5

Story: 5

Writing Ability: 5

Overall Card Rating: 

                                             

About The Book: He’ll teach her exactly how to please a man. 

Zara Nedal is blind, yet through her magic, she can make stunning pieces of jewelry. In order to sell them, she must travel to Suridesh, but only a caravan prince can take her. And only one caravan prince will do–the Falcon. 

Khalil Dehriq has had his eye on Zara for three cycles. It’s been a long time since he’s taken a lover, but she cannot see the horrible scars that mar his body. Khalil isn’t sure if that’s a blessing–or a curse. 

As they ride the dunes, their passion heats the night and ignites their hearts. But the witch called Mother has different plans, and vows to kill Khalil at any cost. The only hope to save his throne is to conceive an heir, and now the Falcon must decide if Zara’s love is enough to heal his tortured soul

The Review:

They always say that blood runs thicker than water, but add a dash of greed, jealousy, and an alliance with a powerful mage and there will be bloodshed.

In this third installment to the Desert Princes of Jikkar series, the overall plot is much more darkly twisted than previously suspected. The fallout of this betrayal could lead to the conceiving of an heir as well as the death of a prince.

Zara has all of the qualities of a really remarkable and likeable heroine. She's giving, even when she doesn't have anything to give; she's kind, even when others are not; she's accepting, even when she meets with resistance to her beliefs, but she's most definitely not a pushover. While discovering Zara's character, I almost forgot she was blind yet regardless of her handicap, she pursues Khalil aggressively.

Zara has and continues to overcome many challenges in her life, but Khalil has yet to overcome any of his demons. Due to a past trauma, Khalil is left with deep physical scars, but the healed over wounds run much emotionally deeper than Zara expected. Khalil is a haunted, emotionally and somewhat physically distant character, but Zara pushes and challenges him to discover the beauty of life and eventually love.

Intelligent, emotional, and captivating are just some of the words I would use to describe Ms. Goings' writing. She writes much more erotically this time around and readers will definitely enjoy the creative spiciness, but it also comes with a touch of innocence. Once again, I find the plotline to be unpredictable and addicting. It is impossible to know what will happen next, which kept me riveted to the story. The characters are portrayed fantastically, regardless of if they played a major or minor role.

There are many pivotal and emotional moments to the story, but I wasn't prepared to be crying within the first 10 pages. So please take note and heed the warning that Ms. Goings has left for her readers before beginning this story, but once you've started you'll be glad you did. I daresay I don't want this series to end.

Pagan Elements: No major pagan elements other than a really powerful mage trying to flex her magic spell casting muscles.

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Disclaimer: Due to FTC regulations, any book reviewed on this site was sent for free by the author to The Pagan & The Pen. We are not paid to give reviews by Author or Publisher. Once review has been made, said books are deleted.

Tales of The Red Moon Clan by Chérie De Sues

THE PAGAN & THE PEN BOOK REVIEWS

Title: Tales of The Red Moon Clan
Author: Chérie De Sues

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Publisher: Noble Romance Publishing

Genre: Paranormal

Length: 224 pgs. 

Reviewed by: yadkny

RATINGS FOR:Cover: 4 

Presentation: 4

Editing: 4.5

Story: 4.5

Writing Ability: 4.5

Overall Card Rating: 

                                                                                             

About The Book: Neol Pallaton walks alone through the bowels of society as a bounty hunter, until he shifts into a cougar to save Assistant D.A. Sara Hughes from certain death. A relentless killer keeps them moving by day through the Oregon forest—and by night under the full moon, passion rules their hearts.

The rugged forest is no place for a beautiful and feisty city woman, but Neol’s determined to help Sara piece together why she's being hunted. Sara thought bounty hunters were brutal loners who stretched the law she’s sworn to uphold. But Neol proves that no one can hunt, track and protect her like a Navajo medicine man from the Red Moon Clan.

Neol is willing to anger the spirits to protect his one true mate. Sara will have to bend the law to keep Neol and her alive—and together forever.

The Review: Neol is the perfect knight in shining armor or would that be the perfect Navajo Medicine Man in shining cougar fur? He's everything any woman could imagine wanting in a mate. Other than gorgeous looks he also possesses a quiet strength and power that you can really feel through the pages of Ms. De Sues book. Sara is a force to be reckoned with as well. She isn't exactly your typical paper-pushing Assistant D.A. She's had the training, thanks to her dad, of how to survive out in the wild. This girl may not have any magical or shapeshifting abilities, but she sure can wield a rifle.These two are a perfect match... he catches the bad guys and she prosecutes them. There journey through the wilderness to outsmart their pursuers, creates an optimal, intimate setting for Neol and Sara to get to know each other and fantasize a possible future. Both have hesitations and believe that the bubble will burst once the danger has been curbed, but neither expect that the spirits have already decided their fate.Ms. De Sues added everything a reader could want in a worthwhile book... a ton of action, suspense, and danger, but mixed in tender moments and sensuous lovemaking to add emotional depth. There were a couple of moments where the story felt a little dull and certain details were unnecessarily added, but overall I was impressed with my first Chérie De Sues read.With so many awesome supporting characters left to discover, this just has to be the start of a new series and I can't wait to dive in if it is. I was completely taken by surprise with the ending and that particular twist only left me wanting more.

Pagan Elements: Neol is a Navajo Medicine Man, so you can expect some light magic (not fully explored) and some chanting to the spirits of whatever animal Neol is trying to invoke in order to shift to that animal.
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Disclaimer: Due to FTC regulations, any book reviewed on this site was sent for free by the author to The Pagan & The Pen. We are not paid to give reviews by Author or Publisher. Once review has been made, said books are deleted.

I Never Kissed Judy Garland by Michael A. Kechula

THE PAGAN & THE PEN BOOK REVIEWS

Title: I Never Kissed Judy Garland
Author: Michael A. Kechula

Author Site

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Publisher: BooksForABuck.com

Genre: Romance/Short Stories

Length: 137 pgs.
Reviewed by: Kim Clune

RATINGS FOR:

Cover: 4

Presentation: 4

Editing: 5

Story: 5

Writing Ability: 5

Overall Card Rating: 

                                                               

About The Book:
A stunt double never gets over his crush on Judy Garland. A man spots a sign on the side of the road--and it changes his life. A musician discovers a beautiful doll who makes him a star and more. A middle-aged man decides to help a desperate young woman ... and wonders if the good guy ever can win. A girl wishes for an air force fighter for her birthday and discovers what true love can do. These are only some of the stories Michael A. Kechula delivers in this collection of romantic stories by the master of short fiction.

The Review:

Michael A. Kechula has a fine gift for story-telling which he attributes solely to the tutelage of Dr. Sherry Rosenthal, his professor at the Community Colleges of Southern Nevada, Las Vegas. Rest assured, while Dr. Rosenthal may have had a significant impact upon Kechula, this author has an innate talent for writing that springs forth from deep within.

 I Never Kissed Judy Garland is Kechula’s first short story collection focusing on romance and relationships. The main characters are sweet and often bumbling through life, unsure of what comes next. They could be easily be friends of yours or mine – well many of them, anyway – and as we cheer them on through some pretty odd trials and tribulations wanting to offer each advice, they often find their own way, although separate from what we’d suggest. And sometimes they don’t. And sometimes our similarities end when a shape-shifting being arrives on the scene to hook the story in another shocking direction altogether.

Each story bears trace details that are similar to the next, creating a sense of familiarity and cohesiveness where none actually exists. Or does it? The result is a fun read that makes you question the ways in which each story is somehow connected, only to find entirely new and unexpected twists as each page is turned.

You’ll find yourself indulging in Kechula’s odd sense of humor as you curiously delight in struggle, sadness, mental illness, jealousy, and surreal twists of fate, while full-on enjoying hints of magic sparked by love, a simple charm in unrequited desire, and geeks who become heroes in the end. And if you want a little holiday flavor, there’s a bit of that too.

This book is well worth the read, even if you consume it like I did, just a story here and there on the go. Let me add that, while I Never Kissed Judy Garland is served up in tasty bits allowing you to easily put it down between reads, that doesn’t mean you’ll want to.

Pagan Elements: N/A

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Disclaimer: Due to FTC regulations, any book reviewed on this site was sent for free by the author to The Pagan & The Pen. We are not paid to give reviews by Author or Publisher. Once review has been made, said books are deleted.

The Wayfarer’s Road: Bowdancer Book 2 by Janie Franz

THE PAGAN & THE PEN BOOK REVIEWS

Title: The Wayfarer’s Road: Bowdancer Book 2
Author: Janie Franz

Author Site

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Publisher: Breathless Press

Genre: Romance/Erotic

Length: 102 pgs.
Reviewed by: Kim Clune

RATINGS FOR:

Cover: 2

Presentation: 4

Editing: 5

Story: 5

Writing Ability: 5

Overall Card Rating: 

                                                   

About The Book: The Bowdancer Saga continues with The Wayfarer’s Road. Jan-nell, now a woman traveling alone with her precocious young daughter, meets a handsome wandering bard. But he is carrying his own secrets along with the priceless chance at hope for her and her child to belong.

The Review: Fully enamored with The Bowdancer, the first book of this saga, I looked forward to reviewing The Wayfarer’s Road with great anticipation. Once more, author Janie Franz did not disappoint. Not in the least. Her writing, characters and plot are exquisite. My single, lingering wish would be for an accurate depiction of Jan-nell, an earthier and less frosted character, on the cover.

Jan-nell is the young and naive healer who left the stifling safety of her village in a fit of romance with Bastin, a traveling ruffian who challenged Jan-nell to acknowledge her inner-most desires. In the space between book 1 and 2, Bastin continues to chase passionately after far-fetched dreams in untethered travels, leaving Jan-nell to give birth and raise their now 4-year-old daughter, Mira-nell, alone.

The road has been less than kind to Jan-nell as she scrapes by with invigorated strength to support what is left of her fractured family. Unable to return to her own village, she and Mira-nell sleep under cover of the forest between unfamiliar villages in need of a traveling midwife. Jan-nell’s daughter, inheriting Jan-nell’s determination and ability to read people, as well as the quick wit and biting honesty of her father, has learned to fend well for herself too.

We join mother and daughter as they seek shelter from the rain in a stable adjoined to the local inn. Here, the innkeeper mistakes the single mother for a whore, hurling insults and providing only the very least of his generosity – which includes a late-night visit with his band of bullying patrons for ill-perceived services.

Enter Khrin, a handsome, gentle, traveling merry-maker who charms brothel audiences with his lute and lyrics. Taking a shine to Jan-nell, he helps her thwart the unwelcome, late-night advances of the innkeeper’s owner.

As the three flee together, they become reliant upon one another, traveling deeper into danger and having to draw upon one another’s skills for survival. Together they fend off not only the randy innkeeper, but a band of brutal villagers angered by Khrin’s affinity for men, a disillusioned kidnapper, hunger, bruises, boredom, cold and loneliness.

While Jan-nell, Mira-nell and Khrin couldn’t be more different, they complement each other well and, in a short span of time, they learn they are not so different after all. Aside from a life deeply rooted in song (but for young Mira-nell whose only interest to learn is on an as-needed basis), each is misunderstood, longs for belonging, and only cautiously trusts the other.

With childhood innocence, curiosity and honesty that cuts to the quick of social construct, young Mira-nell is instrumental in teaching Jan-nell and Khrin to question the comfort of their ingrained perceptions, including those of sexual orientation.

Khrin’s intentions and Jan-nell’s ponderance of their possibility reveals that one must honestly assess inner desire and realize that there are no rules of engagement but for those imposed upon us. If the interaction between these complex characters seems eerily confusing, the author is simply asking us, in a not-so-subtle way, to challenge the comfort of our own limiting assumptions.

Will Jan-nell, Mira-nell and Khrin satisfy their need for love in one another as friend, father, brother or lover? Will they find utter rejection or the safety of acceptance in the village Khrin once abandoned near the hills of the Warrior Women? Read on to find out - but be forewarned. This story will leave you ravenous for the saga’s third book, Warrior Women, which I’ll delve into next with tremendous curiosity.

Pagan Elements:

Jan-nell often references the healing power of herbal treatments, drawing from the natural powers of an earthly yield. She also draws on the healing power of traditional village song and dance. In particular, she employs a song illustrating the stages of a woman’s life, which is, ironically, used to heal Khrin’s bruises through stretching.

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Disclaimer: Due to FTC regulations, any book reviewed on this site was sent for free by the author to The Pagan & The Pen. We are not paid to give reviews by Author or Publisher. Once review has been made, said books are deleted.

Tamed by Emily Cale

THE PAGAN & THE PEN BOOK REVIEWS

Title: Tamed
Author: Emily Cale

Author Site

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Publisher: Breathless Press

Genre: Contemporary/Erotic/Romance/Western

Length: 62 pgs.
Reviewed by: yadkny

RATINGS FOR:

Cover: 4

Presentation: 4

Editing: 3.5

Story: 3.5

Writing Ability: 3.5

Overall Card Rating: 

                                           

About The Book: Can a hot fling on a Wyoming ranch lead to more than just sex?

Tired of bringing home unsatisfying, nameless men, Delia Hawthorne needs a change of pace. When her Aunt invites her to spend some time at their family’s Wyoming ranch, it takes little prodding for her to agree. Time away from work, bars, and men is exactly the break she's been looking for.

When Delia arrives, she finds what she has come to avoid: take-charge ranch hand, Lucas Dane. Despite her Aunt’s warning of Lucas’ womanizing reputation, she decides he may be worth the risk. What starts out as just sex quickly turns into more, forcing Delia to choose between the guy she is falling in love with and her responsibilities back home. What's a city girl to do?

The Review:

After graduating from college, Delia became focused and very career-driven on the new company she started with her friend. That left very little time to go back to the ranch she had spent many of her summers. Her aunt finally convinces her to come for a visit with the joyful news of the birth of a foal to Delia's horse Snickers. Delia begins to reminisce and soon finds it hard to reason her way out of not going, especially now that her personal life feels meaningless. A trip out to the country just might be the trick to getting her out of her own personal funk.

Lucas is probably best know on the ranch for his womanizing ways, but the hard work he puts in doesn't go unnoticed. He reasons that his reputation is in part because of the mundane routine he has in his life and although it's not a bad life, it can be a lonely one. It isn't until the day a little spitfire of a city girl decides to trip into his life on stilettos, does he actually begin to feel something other than just lust at first sight.

I found both Delia and Lucas to have very similar characteristics even though they come from two totally different worlds. They both have had plenty of meaningless sex, are stubborn, flirtatious, independent, and smart in their respective careers, but both seem to be looking for something more out of life than just a good time. It's exactly those similar characteristics that bring them to instant attraction and soon heedless of the warnings tossed their way, find that they are compatible in more ways than one. Then the day comes that reality makes a call and Delia knows she has to make a choice. Delia has always been the one to kick out men from her bed before; this confidence stemming from the lack of distrust for them that she's earned after a cheater in her past. How can she throw away all that she's worked for on the whim of finding companionship with a ranch hand? Delia's vacation turns into a hard lesson in self-discovery for both of them.

This is a quick read with very well established characters and settings. I wouldn't have minded if this story was a bit longer since the ending seemed kind of rushed, but overall it was enjoyable.

Recommended reading for those looking for a quick roll in the hay with a handsome cowboy.

Pagan Elements: N/A

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Disclaimer: Due to FTC regulations, any book reviewed on this site was sent for free by the author to The Pagan & The Pen. We are not paid to give reviews by Author or Publisher. Once review has been made, said books are deleted.