Mating Season – Theresa Hissong

It’s the mating season. Drake Morgan and his brothers Gunner and Rex have been out of hibernation for three weeks. Spring is approaching with the worst of the harsh winter behind them. It’s also time to till their land for crops.🌽🌾

The Morgan brothers are shapeshifters and their bears are calling them to start preparing for the mating season. The brothers have no mates and tend to keep to themselves. They don’t find humans too appealing so they try to stay far away from the city as possible. Drake’s considered travelling to a different clan in hopes of finding female bears but is not too keen on settling elsewhere besides his land.

The Morgan brothers spend most of the year growing and harvesting their crops, then saving the money from their corn for retirement and catering to their mates. Their kind is protective by nature and very caring. They cherish their females, and during hibernation, they make their homes comfortable and safe for their mates. And if their mates fall pregnant, they would go out of their way to ensure their needs are well provided for.

Drake’s clan formed an alliance with Talon Shaw clan after they saved Drake’s bear clan from humans some years back.

Though the town sheriff is a Watcher—a guardian angel who watches over the panthers, and by extension, Drake’s clan—Drake prefers to keep the sheriff at arm’s length, choosing to look after his own.

While running errands in town to get his machine parts for his plow, he runs into a woman named Tessa.
Tessa works for the owner of the hardware store🏬, Tulley where she met Drake. She’s been asked to deliver the remaining tools to the Morgan farm which Drake requested but wasn’t available at the time. 🛠

At the farm, she trips and falls at Drake’s feet while trying to set the deliveries down. Just then Drake tries to break her fall and when he touches her, Drake’s bear claims her. Drake realizes he must mark her so no other male would come around her.

But Drake’s emotions are all over the place because he doesn’t trust humans. His mind and his bear are at odds because she’s one of them. Tessa, on the other hand, isn’t looking for a relationship at the moment—she’s running from her abusive ex-husband and is looking forward to starting a new slate. The Morgan brothers offer to help track her ex down and he enlists the help of the Guardians of the Shaw Pride.

Overall an interesting read. Would recommend to lovers of paranormal romance.

• Pages: 182
• Published: 28 August 2018

A Gathering Tempest – Catherine Jones Payne

A Gathering Tempest is a coming of age story about a fourteen-year-old merman named Alexander. He goes to school with his mer friend, Jade—the daughter of a wealthy politician—whom he’s in love with.

His mother abandoned him with his puffer-addict father when he was baby, and even though his family meant him well, their poverty-stricken conditions kept them from helping him out as much as they would have wanted.

Because of this, he can’t afford school supplies and so he’s behind in school work. Moreover, his father has no money so Alex has to look for work if he has to eat. He goes job hunting from shop to shop but gets turned down every time.

He finally lands a job mending nets for a Naiad named Lucas at the naiad quarter. Lucas fixes fishermen’s worn-out nets and resells them for profit.
Now Alexander can earn his own money and he wouldn’t even have to go hungry again. He would even afford school supplies.

To top it all, he has to work on his days off to pay off a loan shark who lent his father some money (A hundred drachmas plus interest) which he borrowed six months ago. But Alexander can’t pay back all the money upfront and instead, he agrees to pay the merman two drachmas a week for two years.

Lord Nico, Jade’s father happened to be passing by and couldn’t help overhearing the conversation between Alexander and the merman. Lord Nico offers to give Alexander six drachmas a month until he graduates school. This could help supplement his income from the shop where he works.

Two days after meeting with Lord Nico, Alexander learns from his classmate that Jade’s father has been murdered, allegedly by naiad liberationists. This meant he can’t get the money he was promised.

The news of Lord Nico’s death has caused quite a stir between the mermen and the naiads and soon, Alexander finds himself embroiled in a tangled net and must find a way to survive even if it means losing Jade.

A Gathering Tempest is a fun, whimsical read, filled with interesting characters, an exciting plot, lots of action and romance all happening in the backdrop of the deep blue ocean. The ending caught me off guard and I can’t wait to read the sequel. This book gives a beautiful insight into the merworld, and I enjoyed the interaction between the characters. Would recommend.

Favorite quote:
“Accept the help you need, and extend it to someone else when you have the opportunity to give it.”

• Pages: 50
• Publisher: Fathom Ink Press (19 November 2017)

Available on Amazon