The Arena by Cooper was a change of pace for me. For the longest time, I have been reading shifter stories with werewolves and lycans as the main characters. The Arena brings into play many different types of shifters such as lions, a Bengal tiger, a polar bear, and kestrels. The main characters, however, are Cedric (the last Lycan) and Tana (the last Elemental Fire Dragon).
The last of their kind
For many years, humans have hunted and killed supernaturals (or supes) out of fear. But something changed recently. For the past year )at least), supes have been hunted and captured. Why? For entertainment! They were imprisoned, starved, and then forced to fight to the death against other supes gladiator-style in the Arena. This is while being in their human form and unable to shift.
In the world, only 4 dragons remain, one for each element – earth, air, water, and fire. Tana is the last fire dragon. Her family chose to kill themselves rather than be captured by humans.
His pack was attacked on the day of Cedric’s ascension to Alpha of Alphas. His parents were killed while he and many of his pack members were captured and sent to the arena.
The Arena is where Tana and Cedric meet. They have been fighting in the Arena for about a year … which proves that they are very good fighters as they have not lost once. The hunters think Cedric is an Alpha werewolf. Cedric thinks Tana is an Alpha werewolf as well, and she has not taken the time to enlighten him otherwise. Cedric also thinks that Tana might be his mate but can’t be sure because of the suppressants the hunters have been given them to prevent them from shifting.
Mate!
I thought that seeing how the mate bond manifests for different kinds of shifters is interesting and it made sense that it wasn’t quite the same thing for dragons. A major difference is that simply biting or getting bitten is not enough. Dragons need to be claimed.
When Cedric and Tana finally get together and he bites her, he finally realizes that she isn’t an Alpha werewolf but something else altogether that is probably even more powerful. In his confusion he leaves her, presumably to work things out in his head. Unfortunately, Tana took this as a rejection and left with a broken heart.
This becomes the turning point for everything that happens in the rest of the story.
The Review
I have what I like to call a “cinematic brain”. It means that when I read I can picture what is happening in my head and, often, the words actually disappear and I am reading the book as if I were watching a movie. This translates to if the movie in my head is bad or subpar I figuratively walk out of the theater.
Cooper describes scenes in The Arena so vividly I find myself living in the story. I would put her in the same league as Chris Columbus and Peter Jackson if she were a film director. Yes, that is how gorgeous the scenes play in my head. While prone to not using the Oxford comma (hyuk!), Cooper skillfully manages to keep me so engaged that I find myself savoring all the pages, rather than flying through the book as I usually do. I spent more time reading, not because it was a struggle, but because I would rewind to see a scene more clearly.
I would classify The Arena by Cooper as a fantasy/adventure/romance and at that, I would say it is more fantasy than romance. Yes, steamy scenes can get pretty steamy, but possibly 90% of the story has nothing to do with sex … which I thought was masterful! This opens up the audience of this book to more than just thirsty women.
If a fantasy story with dragons, lycans, werewolves, etc. is something you are interested in, you may want to check out The Arena by Cooper on the Goodnovel app. This is a story I highly recommend and eagerly await on Amazon.
Alpha Swap by Cooper is an amazing story. Think of it as Freaky Friday meets Groundhog Day. Your childhood is seriously deprived if you don’t get those pop culture references.
Tereshan is the Alpha of the pack and Claire is an Omega of the same pack. Tereshan is a douchebag (to put it mildly) and hardly anyone in his pack is happy. Claire is one of those people that is just greatly loved by all she encounters … she is a loving soul. They share a birthday and on their 18th birthday, they discover that they are mates. Tereshan decides to have sex with Claire and then immediately after he rejects her. His reason … he does not want a weak Omega for a mate … and things decline from there.
A year later something happens and Tereshan and Claire wake up in each other’s body and it is their 18th birthday once again. What?!? What a twist! Things should be very different with Claire in charge now, right? And it does!
I don’t want to give away too much as it would be better if you read it yourself. Alpha Swap by Cooper is available on iReader(not Goodnovel, huhu) which makes me sad because it is hella expensive at iReader! Each chapter is 180 coins. This book is so good that before I knew it I already spent more than $50 on it … it’s that good! That is my budget for Goodnovel for 1 to 2 months!
If you are NOT a voracious reader, as I am, you may not have to spend so much … just use the daily vouchers and the reading and ad vouchers. Sadly, for me, I just HAVE to know what happens next so … spend, spend, spend. Sigh! Thankfully, the story is really good, so I don’t regret the purchase as much … until I think about how many books I could have bought on Kindle with that amount.
This story deserves to be translated into film, I swear! Read Alpha Swap by Cooper on iReader today! You won’t regret it!
My long-awaited review of The Broken Warrior’s Daughter by Cooper is finally here! Lol! I actually finished reading it days ago but I kept rewinding to some parts I really liked so I couldn’t “officially” say I was done.
This story is definitely a love story, to be specific, it is a courtship, which I find uncommon in most werewolf stories I’ve read. For most werewolf stories, once they find their mates they’re immediately at it like rabbits. Their age, of course, is a factor as both parties have to be of age to feel the mate bond.
It’s a love triangle and I confess to initially rooting for the other guy. Liam is older, an established Alpha, and was really into Cara … enough to choose her, not just wait for fate to tell him she is his mate. Based on the way Cara was attracted to him, it was a very strong possibility.
I’ve always wondered about the make-out scenes, though. This is not isolated to this book. Many authors seem to be of the opinion that only penetration equals sex. Therefore, they can get naked and do everything but that doesn’t mean they’ve had sex yet. This, I believe, was the Bill Clinton argument. According to him all Monica Lewinsky did was suck him off so, technically, they never had sex. But there is a reason it is called oral sex.
So … if a guy gets a girl’s top off and sucks on her breasts then has his hand under her skirt doing “unspeakable things” between her legs they’re still not having sex, even though his fingers are buried inside her. For me, that level of intimacy … if we get close to anyone’s privates … is already sex, just not penetrative sex.
For the training scenes, I would love to see that on the screen. The way they were described got my blood pumping and couldn’t help but wish there was a video to accompany the story. 😀
I would highly recommend The Broken Warrior’s Daughter by Cooper. You can find it on Goodnovel. The story is fast-paced and the author writes so well that I found my anticipation levels at a 10 just waiting for Cara to turn 18.
For many years, humans have hunted and killed supernaturals (or supes) out of fear. But something changed recently. For the past year )at least), supes have been hunted and captured. Why? For entertainment! They were imprisoned, starved, and then forced to fight to the death against other supes gladiator-style in the Arena. This is while being in their human form and unable to shift.
Alpha Swap by Cooper is an amazing story. Think of it as Freaky Friday meets Groundhog Day. Your childhood is seriously deprived if you don’t get those pop culture references.
My long-awaited review of The Broken Warrior’s Daughter by Cooper is finally here! Lol! I actually finished reading it days ago but I kept rewinding to some parts I really liked so I couldn’t “officially” say I was done.
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