by Penny Angeles-Tan | Jun 1, 2023 | Book Reviews
I’ve reviewed a story by Caroline Above Story before and I enjoyed the book (which is still ongoing) so I thought I would give another one of her stories a shot. I scanned through her books on Goodnovel and stopped on My Professor Is My Alpha Mate by Caroline Above Story. “Taboo” romances are often interesting if written properly and I was curious to see just how taboo this story would be.
The book begins with Lila turning 18 soon but already in college/university (yep, a smart egg) and an art student. When she catches her boyfriend in a liplock with another woman, she turns to the nearest male and kisses him, not realizing that the person she kissed was a teacher. Oh, boy!
Enzo is the youngest Alpha (in his early 20s) and was tasked by the council to teach combat in the shifter school. When Lila kissed him randomly in the corridor, he didn’t react or kiss her back. His expression remained stoic but inside he was shocked.
Lila decides to switch classes to one her cheating boyfriend is not a part of and discovers that she kissed the professor. Talk about embarrassing! It isn’t until a few days later when she turns 18 that they discover they are mates. Enzo has a lot of things going on and while he acknowledged the mate bond he was not willing to claim her. Interestingly, he was not rejecting her either! Poor Lila. I honestly wished at first that she would just reject him.
But things are not as simple as that. There are so many things that are getting in the way … pack issues, uncontrolled powers, friends with issues to resolve, “mortal enemies”, and thirsty she-wolves lusting after Enzo.
Their romance is frustrating as it is a slow burn but I still feel compelled to read the new chapters as they come out, lol! Are there spelling and grammar issues? A few, such as not always remembering how things are spelled (is it MONRO or MONSTRO?) which is frustrating but I choose to just read it however I want to and move forward as there are more interesting things happening anyway.
So far, I am enjoying My Professor Is My Alpha Mate by Caroline Above Story. Classification: light reading, slow burn.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | May 11, 2023 | Book Reviews
I have read my share of stories with confusing titles and premises but I must admit, Mated to the Gay Alpha by Blessing Ezekiel, so far is the most confusing of them all. The main character is Catherine (or Cathy), a human girl. At the beginning of the story, we see her leaving her home to visit her sick aunt. The author goes out of his way to say that Cathy is a nurse so I assumed she was going there to take care of her sick aunt. Instead, she is tasked to help her aunt by assisting her in the mansion as a line cook. What a waste of her talent! It would have made more sense if the author said she was a chef.
Then we have the identical Alpha twins, Darin and Darwin, who are gay and fully mated to Elliot, their Beta’s nephew. A twist in the plot, Derick, Darwin’s wolf, scents the air and discovers that Cathy is his second mate and for some reason, while he isn’t repelled by Elliot, he also isn’t attracted to him anymore. Darin, on the other hand, finds himself quite attracted to Cathy, despite his wolf, Eric, having no feelings for her and constantly reminding him that Elliot is his mate.
Darwin thinks his wolf is bespelled and accuses Cathy of witchcraft. Cathy has no idea what is happening. And Darin is fascinated by her. Darin decides to interact with Cathy by impersonating Darwin, partly to get information that he wouldn’t be privy to otherwise, but later because he just couldn’t help himself.
Things get complicated when they succumb to their physical attraction with him still pretending to be Darwin. Then Darwin also succumbs and unintentionally Cathy ends up involved with both thinking they were the same person. To put it simply, our characters are confused and we are confused. Are they gay? What is wrong with Elliot? He’s been hostile towards Cathy from the get-go. Is he truly their mate or was their witchcraft involved? Is Cathy actually mates to both of them? What about Lucas?
The story has potential, that much I can assure you, but it also needs a lot of work. The author keeps interchanging names, gets pronouns wrong, and is fond of using idiomatic expressions but uses the wrong one almost all the time. sigh In addition, the way the erotic scenes are written is not really as steamy as I thought they would be, especially the M2M scenes that came with a trigger warning. The way they were written was actually quite juvenile which leads me to believe the author is young and has little or no experience. That being said, experience is gained through practice so do research and keep writing.
This is currently an ongoing story and has 41 chapters to date. I’m on chapter 41 so you know I haven’t given up on it. I am still waiting for clarity and crossing my fingers that it will happen. You can find Mated to the Gay Alpha by Blessing Ezekiel on Goodnovel.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | May 9, 2023 | Book Reviews
I tried. I really tried to give Pregnant My Alpha Bully’s Baby by Ariel Liza a chance. I even got as far as 10 so you know I really tried. Unfortunately, I spent every moment gnashing my teeth in frustration as almost every single line (no exaggeration) is grammatically incorrect!
I think it is safe to assume this book was initially not in English and that the author lazily just used Google translate or some such app to convert it to English and then … without proofreading it, just published it … verbatim.
For starters, the title alone is lacking in punctuation which makes it difficult to read at first glance and then my brain goes “Ah! There should be a comma after ‘pregnant’.”
That being said, I found the story flow confusing from the get-go. The main characters, Claire and Ethan, are in high school. Claire is being bullied daily by Ethan and his girlfriend Mia, not just verbally but physically as well. Claire has a boyfriend named Jake who is handsome and athletic. He protects her whenever he can but he cannot be around all the time to protect her as he has to attend his classes, too.
Claire goes home and her mom tells her to get dressed as she is expecting special guests who turn out to be her boyfriend Mason and his son Ethan (surprise!) and they announce that they are getting married TOMORROW. Mom just drops the bomb, just like that. In the meantime, Ethan seemed to have developed an unusual attraction to Claire that he never displayed before.
After the wedding, mom tells Claire that she and Mason are leaving for a month for their honeymoon in Italy, leaving Claire and Ethan alone together at the mansion. Can you guess what happens next? There are talks of “deeper skin” and “secret place” and “you/I just got it”. Got what? And what happens to sexy boyfriend Jake now?
Is Claire human? Is Ethan an Alpha wolf? How about Jake? Is he an Alpha wolf, too? It is just messy.
If you can get passed the multitude of grammatical errors (which is almost the entire story, it seems) then give this a shot. I am willing to give Pregnant My Alpha Bully’s Baby by Ariel Liza maybe 5 to 10 chapters more and if the story does not improve, I am dropping this. I am praying it gets better … also that the author decides to get a copy editor, stat!
by Penny Angeles-Tan | May 5, 2023 | Book Reviews
If you are looking for a story with a unique perspective, you should check out The Alpha’s Pen Pal by Allie Carstens, which tells the story of Wesley and Haven, who first meet via correspondence.
Wesley is 12 years old and his teacher tasked the class to write a letter to a pen pal (who is initially unassigned) in a class taught by her sister in a different state. He is the Alpha’s son and has 3 best friends, which includes his younger brother. Haven is 9 years old and an orphan.
Unlike Wesley, she has no friends and no stable home life as she has been moved from foster home to foster home since she was a baby. Despite their rocky start, over the next several months their friendship grew to the point where they both awaited each other’s reply letter with anticipation. And just as everything seems to be working out perfectly, something terrible happens that quickly changes the tenor of their lives.
Just my personal opinion … this story is SOOOOO GOOOOD! I’m on an emotional roller coaster and hanging on to the bars tightly! It starts off with me going “Aww, how cute!” then segues to me crying buckets. I’ve caught up to the latest chapter and now I’m in the giddy and kicking up my heels phase, or as we say in Filipino … nakakakilig!
I don’t want to give away too many details about the story but trust me, you won’t regret reading The Alpha’s Pen Pal by Allie Carstens. I am reading this on Goodnovel while my sister is reading it on Dreame. Both reading apps have free chapters for you to read so that you can decide for yourself if you want to keep on reading. Personally, I think you would want to keep reading.
I’m hoping that someday soon this beautiful story makes it to Kindle and paperback.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | May 2, 2023 | Book Reviews
I have such mixed feelings about It All Started with a Dare by Seunpeace. For starters, let me say right now that I really want to like it. It is a young adult/teen romance, which usually means that it is fairly innocent. So far, the sexual undertones are very low, phew!
As I am reading this I can’t help but think about popular teen movies that may have served as inspiration for this story. Top of mind was 10 Things I Hate About You, a retelling of William Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew which starred Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger. There are more, I am sure, but that was the first to get stuck in my head. 🙂
Jade transferred to this school just to finish high school. She is described as nerdy, boyish, and quiet. From day 1 she gets harassed by this cheerleader, Athena. To be honest I can’t remember how it started but for most of the book, it is to warn her off Kayden, Athena’s boyfriend … which was weird since she didn’t even know who he was.
Kayden is the hot, popular boy and Athena’s boyfriend. Early in the book he starts to show interest in Jade and seeks out ways to be close to her. This annoyed me because he didn’t even have the delicadeza to break things off with Athena first, but whatever. My question is … what’s the catch?
So much teen drama, it’s cliche, but I did derive some enjoyment from reading it (the story is still ongoing), and while my tolerance for bad grammar and spelling is better now I must admit that it still makes me flinch … especially when it hits me in the face at just about every page. sigh
I think it is safe to assume that English is not the author’s first language but that excuse can only go so far because there are apps and websites that can already help with that.
To date, there are 66 chapters to It All Started with a Dare by Seunpeace on Goodnovel and I’m only on chapter 34 and the status is still “ongoing”. I’m trying to stay optimistic as I read this as it isn’t all that bad (if you can get past the grammar issues). If you are in the mood for some teen drama, check it out on Goodnovel.
I have read my share of stories with confusing titles and premises but I must admit, Mated to the Gay Alpha by Blessing Ezekiel, so far is the most confusing of them all. The main character is Catherine (or Cathy), a human girl. At the beginning of the story, we see her leaving her home to visit her sick aunt. The author goes out of his way to say that Cathy is a nurse so I assumed she was going there to take care of her sick aunt. Instead, she is tasked to help her aunt by assisting her in the mansion as a line cook. What a waste of her talent! It would have made more sense if the author said she was a chef.
I tried. I really tried to give Pregnant My Alpha Bully’s Baby by Ariel Liza a chance. I even got as far as 10 so you know I really tried. Unfortunately, I spent every moment gnashing my teeth in frustration as almost every single line (no exaggeration) is grammatically incorrect!
If you are looking for a story with a unique perspective, you should check out The Alpha’s Pen Pal by Allie Carstens, which tells the story of Wesley and Haven, who first meet via correspondence.
I have such mixed feelings about It All Started with a Dare by Seunpeace. For starters, let me say right now that I really want to like it. It is a young adult/teen romance, which usually means that it is fairly innocent. So far, the sexual undertones are very low, phew!
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