by Penny Angeles-Tan | May 7, 2024 | Book Reviews
A few weeks ago, I was searching Goodnovel for a new story to read. It’s always Alpha this, Alpha that. Then, I encountered a couple of stories that piqued my interest.
The Luna Choosing Game by Jane Above Story
The Luna Choosing Game by Jane Above Story
The Luna Choosing Game by Jane Above Story is a story about Piper, a woman who was working as a waitress to raise her twin sister’s daughter. Unbeknownst to her, her friend entered her into a contest by the royal family for all unmated women of eligible age. Whoever wins will become the Luna for one of the three Princes, meaning there will be three winners … one for each Prince. She discovers that one of the Princes is her ex, Nicholas. At the time they were dating, she had no idea of his identity.
She gets chosen as a candidate, and as the story progresses, the candidates go through different challenges where one or more will be eliminated. She brings her niece, who everyone thinks is her daughter, with her. Things are more difficult for her as she has the added challenge of being wolfless and not being high-born. However, she does not really let that stop her. She knows she will get eliminated early, but while she competes, her niece gets the medical care she needs.
Most of the other candidates hate her, some of the servants hate her, some of the guards hate her, and the King and Queen hate her. It seems like only Princes Nicholas and Julian like her. What will her fate be in The Luna Choosing Game?
How she lost her wolf when Nicholas was sure she had one before is part of the mystery of this story. Why are more and more people losing their wolves? Where is Piper’s sister? Why did she leave her daughter with Piper?
Luna Battle: The Game by Billiejo Priestley
Luna Battle: The Game by Billiejo Priestley
Luna Battle: The Game by Billiejo Priestley is about Elara, a slave to Alpha Draven’s pack who secretly entered The Luna Battle in hopes of escaping the torture of her everyday life. She lost her wolf at four years old, has lived her life as a servant, and when she was old enough, she became a sex slave and was made to service Alpha Draven, his betas, and his guests. She was bitten and claimed by Alpha Draven when she was twelve years old and had no mate.
The Luna Battle is a competition to select the Luna Queen for King Darius and the Luna Princess for Prince Kellan. Each candidate will be asked to perform various challenges. At the end of each challenge, one or more of the candidates will be eliminated and sent home.
Magic selected her as a candidate, and when she arrived at the Palace, most of the other contestants hated her and called her “mutt,” but that didn’t stop Elara from being the bigger person and reminding them of how a Luna is supposed to behave. After all, she didn’t really expect to stay in the competition for long. But what happens when Prince Kellan starts to show her favor, and the King seems to do so, too?
The Luna stories go head-to-head.
I started reading The Luna Choosing Game first and then paused at Chapter 102 because I, quite honestly, got bored with the minutiae. More than a hundred chapters in, and it feels like only a little has happened. Some scenes could have been removed, and chapters could have been compressed. You know those telenovelas that seem to go on forever? That’s what it felt like when I was reading this book. It was interesting, but it was taking forever to get to the point.
In addition, as of this posting, The Luna Choosing Game has 460 chapters and counting! For crying out loud! Know when to stop! If you must, then serialize it, book one and book two, etc.
At the point I was getting fed up with it, I encountered Luna Battle: The Game, and the first thing I noticed was the parallels:
- wolfless
- no family
- forced into a life of servitude
Even the challenges were similar, but then, you know what they say, there really is little that is original as we all build off what other people have done in the past. There’s a big difference, though. Luna Battle is fast-paced and engaging and, more importantly … ONLY 151 CHAPTERS!
YES! The author was able to tell THE WHOLE STORY (COMPLETE!) in just 151 chapters. Value for money? Check!
Will I go back to finish The Luna Choosing Game? I am unsure. At this point, as I see the chapter count climbing higher and higher, it doesn’t seem very certain. Maybe I will wait until the book makes its way to Amazon, hopefully, KU, and then read it there. I’ve already spent way too much on it, as it is.
Head to head … Luna Battle Wins!
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Jun 11, 2023 | Book Reviews
I am so glad I discovered Rejected Mate by Sam Crescent. I have read many rejection stories but this one stands out. It is not about a rejected she-wolf being stronger than she thought she was. It isn’t about a bully who rejects a she-wolf changing his mind and deciding to accept her again. It isn’t about finding a second-chance mate.
This story was so well-written that I was captivated from page 1! It takes popular tropes (shifter romance, rejection, and age gap) and puts a unique spin on them. I hesitate to even call this a bully romance as the bullying part is incidental to the story.
Constance is a late bloomer. Where everyone else she knows shifted at 18, she didn’t shift until she turned 21. Tanner is the Alpha’s son. He has been bullying Constance for many years, calling her fat, ugly, and disgusting. Constance and Tanner realized they were mates on the day of her shift. Oh, horror of horrors! Constance hates his guts!
At this point in other books it would go one of two ways … Tanner would realize how he has been stupid all these years and would do his damnedest to win her or outright reject her. In this book, he chose the latter … Tanner rejected Constance and he did it publicly. Since he is the Alpha’s son, the pack took his rejection as a sign that they should all reject her, so they did. Her parents threw her out, she lost her job, and the rest of the pack turned their backs on her.
Rejection is painful, as we know from shifter lore, but this is the first time that I know of where the effects of the rejection go beyond chest or belly pains or pains caused by infidelity. Instead, the rejection is described as feeling very cold from the inside. Being rejected by one’s mate is bad, but imagine being rejected by the entire pack.
The entire pack, except for one … Gage, the Alpha, and Tanner’s father. In an emergency pack meeting, he announces that according to scripture, when a wolf is rejected, a relative of the one who did the rejecting can step up and accept the rejected wolf in their place. And that is what Gage did.
What a twist! Is it just custom or does Gage really want her for himself as a mate? Will Tanner change his mind and decide to take her back? Will Constance fall in love with Gage and decide to take him as her mate?
If you’ve never read any of the books from Sam Crescent’s Alpha Shifter Collection, this is a good book to start with. It isn’t in Kindle Unlimited but it won’t cost you an arm and a leg. You can get Rejected Mate by Sam Crescent on Amazon for $3.99. All the books in the Alpha Shifter Collection are $3.99 a piece.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Jun 3, 2023 | Book Reviews
Craving His Virgin Mate by Sam Crescent is the second book of the Poison Wolves MC series that revolves around Agatha, a human, and Bayon a member of the Poison Wolves MC. Even without reading the first book, I still got a sense of what happened there since the author made sure to reference back and make short explanations. Although it does not erase the fact that I wish I had read the first book first. Seems like a lot happened in that story!
In comparison, Craving His Virgin Mate by Sam Crescent appears tamer. (I cannot give you 100% assurance on that since I haven’t read the first book yet.) There is no big bad but there was still a mystery that needed to be solved.
Agatha is a solitary creature. Growing up she mostly kept to herself, did not make any friends, and spent most of her time with her adoptive parents or taking long walks in the forest. When her adoptive parents died she decided to uproot and travel with no particular direction or place in mind. She found herself in a town called Poison.
For whatever reason, the people of Poison seemed to hate her, they were not at all welcoming, not even a little bit! Despite that, something about Poison made her want to stay. Poison felt like home.
Poison is actually a pack of werewolves. Boyan is a member of the Poison Wolves MC that protects Poison. The Poison Wolves MC is made up of men who are all technically Alphas but decided to band together instead. Their club president is called Alpha. I don’t know if that is his club name or his designation as the leader. He seeks out Agatha to find out why she seems adamant about staying despite being mostly ignored or rudely spoken to by the pack members.
And then he discovers that she is his mate. This is problematic because of events that happened in Book 1 where they discover that humans cannot become werewolves so a mating between a werewolf and a human is likely not feasible. Despite this, Boyan could not help seek her out, in the guise of finding out more.
But there really is something mysterious about Agatha. Aside from her not wanting to leave, her scent also disappears into the pack! How is that even possible? Is she a regular human or was she one of those that was experimented on by Dr. Milton? Curiouser and curiouser!
The way Agatha and Boyan are with each other is hot, to say the least. From the title, you can tell that Agatha starts the book with her virginity intact so part of me was curious to see how the author would have them jump that little hurdle. In my personal opinion, it was perfect! I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Craving His Virgin Mate by Sam Crescent could be classified as quick and light reading. There is enough going on to keep me engaged and enough chapters to give me something to sink my teeth into. Since it was written so well, I couldn’t help but look for the first book, Hard For You, just so I can get the complete story firsthand.
I recommend this book, definitely! But better if you read the first book also. You can get a copy of Craving His Virgin Mate by Sam Crescent on Amazon. The Kindle version is $3.99.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Mar 11, 2023 | Book Reviews
We encountered John for the first time in Alpha Logan when Logan calls him to give some instructions. He appears several times after which made me quite curious about this very formal Beta. Beta’s Surprise Mate by Bryant now focuses on him as he finds his mate in the most unlikely of situations. When running an errand for Logan and Aurelia, John inadvertently finds his mate when he visits the florist who will be handling all the floral decorations for their wedding.
First of all, she is human … which is unusual enough as it is. Werewolf-human matings are uncommon but possible. Second, she is a (former) hunter, which makes her a danger to the pack, whether or not she’s retired. Third, she has a fierce guardian cat, an Egyptian Mau called Shu. But John believes in the mate bond and trusts the Moon Goddess but even he had to take a step back and wonder why he was given a human mate. Despite his desire to stay away, his wolf would not let him do so.
Things to note … John is over 30 and a virgin by choice. Unlike many of his peers, he chose to save himself for his mate. Despite this, though, he certainly had the skills to please his mate. Sarael quit being a hunter a long time ago when she realized that her sister was doing things that she just couldn’t stomach.
Beta’s Surprise Mate by Bryant is HOT! Don’t be deceived by John’s inexperience … he has the equipment and knows how to use it. I even found myself jealous of Sarael and wished he was my mate instead, hyuk! Their lives get complicated by rogues and hunters who suddenly show up in their lives, especially when one of the hunters is Sarael’s evil sister.
I don’t want to reveal too much but trust me when I say you will WANT to read this book. You can find Beta’s Surprise Mate with the bonus Valentine chapters at the end on Goodnovel. If you want to read the paperback, you can find it on Amazon. I’m hoping it comes out on Amazon Kindle as well.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Mar 6, 2023 | Book Reviews
To be honest I have mixed feelings about Tasting All My Mates by Alexis Dee mainly because I’m also reading Sharing Beatrice, which I recently reviewed and it follows the same formula. A young Omega girl is rejected by her first mate and finds several mates soon after who all happen to already live together, then realizes she isn’t like other Omegas … that she has powers other wolves do not possess.
For several chapters onwards none of her mates are willing to accept her and even go out of their way to mock and bully her. One particular mate is kinder than the rest but also does not accept her. All her mates at some point are willing to accept her if she agrees to reject the rest.
Names are different, and the setting is different, but the story flow is more or less the same. What probably makes this story slightly different is that Enya, the female lead character has a stronger backbone than Beatrice at the beginning of the story.
To be fair, Tasting All My Mates was supposedly written first so, if anything, this is the template for Sharing Beatrice. The story has potential and, yes, despite how expensive it is, I have spent money to read more chapters just to see if it gets better. If you are a fan of serialized TV shows, that is more or less the experience you get when reading this book. Each chapter feels like an episode of a TV show.
So far I’m on chapter 94 and she hasn’t tasted a single mate, lol! For the grammar nazis out there (like me!) beware of all the grammatical and spelling errors. Believe me, there are a LOT! That aside, if you can get passed that, the story has a lot of potential … just don’t read it at the same time as Sharing Beatrice like I am doing or you will not be able to help but see. the parallels. 😀
If you would like to check this story out yourself, you can find it on the iReader app.
This story was so well-written that I was captivated from page 1! It takes popular tropes (shifter romance, rejection, and age gap) and puts a unique spin on them. I hesitate to even call this a bully romance as the bullying part is incidental to the story.
In comparison, Craving His Virgin Mate by Sam Crescent appears tamer. (I cannot give you 100% assurance on that since I haven’t read the first book yet.) There is no big bad but there was still a mystery that needed to be solved.
We encountered John for the first time in 
To be honest I have mixed feelings about Tasting All My Mates by Alexis Dee mainly because I’m also reading 
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