Perfectly plump Carly’s paranormal-wererabbit world goes kablooey on the night of the semiannual Gaian Moon. While all of the furry creatures in Ridgeville decide to knock boots and make babies, the only thing she wants to do is hide from all of the weenie-swinging men, including her would-be mate, Neal. There’s no denying he’s hotter-than-hot, and her bunny wants him more than her next dandelion, but there’s just one teeny-tiny problem. You see, Neal has wandering eyes, and a love for women that’s even bigger than his home state of Texas. But, to her surprise, the lion pounces when she least expects it…and claims her before she has the chance to say “No.”
Furry bastard.
As if her life isn’t crazy enough…it just happens to get that much crazier when someone decides they want her dead.
Question is—can she survive whomever or whatever the hell is hunting her, while trying her damnedest to get over the fact that Neal had a life before he met her?
I have really enjoyed this series so far, but I did not like anything about this book. Very disappointing. I could not stand the hero or heroine in this read. And what the hell is up with them being mates, and yet he has 3 kids from a previous relationship??? Mates should only be able to reproduce together. Hell, that's one of the reasons I like this genre. I don't need this bullshit! GRRRRRRRRRRRRR
What the actual fuck? I hated both these characters. He has three kids with a different woman and she is the most insecure "I'mma be mad at you but never tell you why" bitch on the block. Worst.
Aside from my personal dislike of the two, I kind of like the formula to this series. It's perfect for those nights I can't sleep but need to read something quietly on my kindle until I can. These are short and fast and mostly entertaining, I'd liken it to reading Star Magazine vs. Time Magazine. Sometimes you just need to enjoy your fair share of fluff. Apparently my fluff comes in the uber specific sub genre of BBW Paranormal Shifter Smut. Whatevs. Like what you like and do you and all that jazz.
This was a really good surprise I wasn't to sure about a rabbit shifter with that being said I really enjoyed this book. Carly is a rabbit shifter who has just caught the scent of her mate who has a blond human hanging all over him. Neal who is a were-lion knows that Carly is his mate they spend six months avoiding each other or she spends six months avoiding Neal and his man whoring. I love Carly and her story is my favorite Ridgeville story so far. She does not let the fact that she is a female in a male dominated world or the fact that she is a rabbit let her be pushed around. Carly is also silly, sweet she is one of those characters that you just love. Beside the fact that they are two different species and she is not sure if it will work. Between his man whoring ways a jealous ex who he has 3 cubs with and a friend who has feelings for her they turned her live into a living hell. This book has more suspense than the previous books and I really enjoyed that. I am glad that Carly got her HEA. I am looking forward to reading the rest of this series.
WHAT THE HELL??? the guy has 3 kids already with the other bimbo.. and his mate..(oh..may i say,THE DICK-WHIPPED MATE)so much easily forgive him & forget that..just bcoz he is her mate..WTF? like one sec she was totally hurt n mad about that and on the other second she was totally whipped..acting all in luuuuurve !!
How i hate it...(JUST HATE IT) that girl can easily forget that he didnt resist the BREEDING urges..
Atleast he should've resisted all the breeding (if cant resist fucking others). And the girl Oh how i want to strangle her for just forgiving n forgetting.
U know what!! i really totally lost the whole interest in this novel.. im feeling sooooo disgusted right now.. EWWWW !!
Prepare for spoilers galore! I generally love Celia Kyle's many series, but I don't think I'm going to read any more of this particular one. In the first book we learn that twice a year shifters get super fertile, so they pretty much have orgies in effort to procreate as much as possible. Right there we know that the characters have probably been participating in these sex parties twice a year in effort to make babies. Then it is officially acknowledged that both characters have been to these shindigs, though the girl had never successfully been knocked up. Him on the other hand, has been knocking boots with a human woman for 7 freaking years. Don't worry, he stops banging her when he meets Carly. Woo-freaking-hoo he abstained for six months. The two have multiple interactions where the h has brought up the blonde being around, but never makes the effort to tell her that she is the mother of his three, t-h-r-e-e, children. This only comes up more than halfway into the book after the woman drops the bomb on the h herself. Later the h is kidnapped, and so is the other woman, Naomi. Enter evil person that had never been mentioned before, and since it was a romance novel kidnapping- the seemingly mandatory attempted rape scene. Of course help arrives, the day is saved, and Naomi is placed in a mental hospital for having a mental breakdown over everything. Don't feel bad though, her kids are now with their father and his true mate. So much unnecessary drama. If I want to see two baby mommas fighting over a man, I'll watch Jerry Springer.
H is a manwhore & has 3 kids with OW and doesn't inform the heroine. h finds out through H's baby mama in a confrontation in a bar rest room.
Flashback to couple of months on the night H&h realized they were each other's mates: h goes into a bar smelling someone yummy (her mate) sees her mate with OW asking "you love me?" to which H replies "i do darlin'" then H sniffs h, pushes OW away and then chases after her, callin h darlin' - the same nickname he uses for all his women.
h has hang ups and doubts bec clearly H is not mate material , but they give in to their instincts and claim each other - and the H calls h "darlin'" after they have sexy time. h is understandably turned off. h gives H another chance, this time they go on a date and then H's baby mama blind sides h, informing her of OW & H's 3 kids together. Kids H never once mentioned in the 6 months h&H knew each other.
Okay that he was a manw**re, okay that he had 1 kid with a f*ck buddy, but not okay that he had 3... with the same woman, knowing he could find his mate one day, and not caring about the woman more than to have sex with her when he wanted, even if he was nice to her, he stayed f*cking her for something like 4 years and getting her pregnant 3 times (knowing she probably end pregnant), and having sex with others (not details in this but even he said that he was a slut)... Then he met his mate and use the same moves that with all the other women he flirted and had sex, and she knew about that because first meeting was her watching him make out with the mother of his kids and the woman asking if "he loved her" and he saying "of course darlin'". And when h finally succumbed to him and they mated and had sex he called her darlin' like all the others... And she knew about the kids because their mother told her just seconds she realized that she's pregnant!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Really?!? Absolutely no further discussion about a man who has not one, not two, but THREE kids with the same damn women? Is it really no big deal? He could have spread his "love" around, but he obviously cared about his baby momma to keep going back to her. I really liked Carly, but she was way to much of a pushover for Neal. I wanted to scream at her to grow a damn backbone and come out and say what is pissing you off, even though I thought she was pretty clear, considering how she finds him originally. That whole part of the story was glossed and skipped over and the main "conflict" was completely unneccessary. This whole story just leaves a bad taste in my mouth, which doesn't bode well for me continuing the series. :(
The good thing about the second book is that it's longer and finally there's some action and a plot that is getting developed and most probably is continued in the next books.
Now, this story had me rolling my eyes a bit. Neal was a smooth talker, womanizer and when his mate told him what he is doing wrong for some reason he didn't get it. I am starting to see a pattern here, all male shifters want to spank their mates (horny and kinky furry mates?! - I am not sure if prior to 50 shades I've encountered so many men willing to spank on a whim....) and all the females involved are curvy and lush. For some reason this story didn't appeal to me...the mating was postponed for lack of communication and childish attitude on both sides and when it happened...I was not excited. It was like I've read it before but happened to other characters. The plot that has been building up in the story and the humor are making up for the rest even though some expressions are getting overused. I am hoping the next story has something different to offer.
First Thoughts: "Wow this sounds cool. Mates who don't claim each other? Plus size FL? Shifter FL? Good shit !!!! I love it when my leading ladies turn into animals !!!"
Last thoughts: "why did I waste my time reading this garbage?"
ML has 3 children with OW. OW tells FL about this in a bar bathroom when the FL discovers that she's pregnant with ML's child. What the hell? FL is angry that ML kept this from her, when he has SIX MONTHS to tell her-- mind you, one of the kids is 6 months old. Which means the OW had given birth right around the time ML and FL first meet. Say what you want about men and manwhores, but having multiple children with one woman? She's gotta mean something. The love declaration from ML to FL seemed so cheap because of this.
That being said, OW got the worst end of it. She spent all these years sharing children with a man who she loved but never really loved her. And then, she got kidnapped and then institutionalised because she learned how violent and brutal shifters really are, and will never get to hold her children or raise them again. The ML and FL's happiness is literally at an expense to hers.
Any life is better without the ML imo. Really sad that this book flopped so hard, because book 6??? That was def better than this. The ironic thing is that in book 6, I starred a quote and wrote, "lol we like Neal!!!" And that's why I read this one. Hell nah, bro, we fucking hate Neal.
Favourite character: Ian, but that's only because I love overprotective brothers. Guess I'm reading his book next.
Edit: there is no book for Ian 🥴🥴🥴
Adios 🌊
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Poor Carly! That first whiff was everything, until she saw her mate in action, and she got lumped with the rest. Or did she really? The characters are exactly as I thought they would be from the previous book. Carly is sassy and sweet, with a fragile soft heart, and Neal is your typical clueless frat boy who never grew up. Good thing the queen steps in or this mating might have been stalled forever. The author kept the jokes and danger coming with a healthy dose of romance that stole the story. This book was amazing and I am looking forward to the next book in the series.
Before I get to my review I just wanted to preface it this with a note. If your under eighteen, don't like coarse language or hard sex these books and this review are not for you. So, I stumbled across this series of books purely by accident one day. Shifter books are at the top of my list for genre of books I like to read. The thing is for the most part the books are about wolf packs. After a while when you have read a substantial quantity of them they start to get a little similar. So, I decided to do a bit of a search and see what other type of shape-shifter books were out there. That was how I found the Ridgeville Lions. The first thing that caught my eye about these books was the covers. The colours were eye catching and the men on the cover FUCK HOT!!!! I am going to admit I read this series of books out of order. The first book I found was Ball of Furry, which I started reading before I realised it was a series. I was extremely intrigued by a book in which a lion and rabbit get together. When I got to the end of Ball of Furry, I immediately purchased He Ain't Lion, because I just wanted more. You're Lion had been on my TBR pile for a few weeks now but it had to wait as I had a few other books I needed to read for reviews. When the opportunity came up to review all three books, I jumped at the chance. These books a hot well written romances. If you like your sex on the more erotic side, these are definitely for you. That means that these Lions fuck and they fuck hard. That doesn't mean there isn’t a good dose of emotion wrapped up in there, as well as a nice dose of humour. In book 1 we meet Alex O'Connell Prime of the Ridgeville werelion pride. Unbeknownst to him his mate is about to walk into his club and turn his life upside down. Maya who is only looking for a one-night stand gets a lot more than she bargains for when she can't resist the pull she feels to the sexy club owner. In book 1.5 Alex and Maya are, for all intents and purposes, a happy couple ruling their pride but when Maya finds out she is pregnant her hormones send her into a bit of a tail spin that ends with her fucking her mate hard and fast. In book 2 we get Carly’s story we met her in book 1 she is Maya’s best friend and a wererabbit to boot. She is trying to avoid the mating call of Neal a member of the pride but he pounces when she least expects it. Overall I give this series of books 4 out of 5 If you like a short sexy read then each of these books are for you.
I went back and forth about buying this. It's five chapters plus an epilogue, which, for me, makes the $3.99 price a bit of a stretch. However, the heroine is a bunny shifter and the hero is a lion shifter. The excerpt was intriguing and BUNNY/LION. I've read other books by the author and while they weren't the Best Thing Ever, I liked Kyle's writing style. So I went for it.
I don't regret spending the money, mostly because the heroine, Carly, is a spitfire. She holds the hero, Neal, at arm's length until she's sure he's going to be what she needs. Despite that show of independence, however, this is very much a Fated Mate Syndrome book. There's no emotional development and Neal doesn't really 'grow' as a character. The addition of another chapter or two (especially at the end) would have benefited the book greatly.
I haven't read the previous books in the series, but I'd read the synopses and that was pretty much all I needed to know. Ball of Furry ends on a bit of a cliff-hanger which, presumably, will lead into the next book. Due to this, I did feel like things weren't quite resolved or settled, even though, technically speaking, there weren't any loose threads left hanging.
My advice is to approach the book as a novella of sorts. I enjoyed the book because I had low expectations and I basically wanted to be amused for a bit. I did enjoy the fact that Kyle touched upon the weight displacement issue of switching between a human and a bunny. In addition, while Carly says she weighs 160lbs, her weight is not continually harped on or an 'issue.'
Neal and Carly's story. The Lion that's a manwhore and the bunny who wants a forever mate. Loved this story. Enjoyed there characters. Can't wait for more!
I really disliked this couple, only finished the story thanks to how short it is. Would have given it a 1 star overall (except that’s not how my rating system works)
Argh - below is everything I hated - with added sarcastic flavour
* Our heroine is a hot/cold, too timid, no spunk bunny * Our hero is a smooth talking, lion man whore
* There is too much happening for such a short story. * There was a couple of inconsistencies * The Insta-love was ridiculous, the only connection between our couple is a mate bond * You were shot at, but somehow only grazed, have a house full of alphas wanting answers - but fucking is a must do first…pluhze * Let’s leave all the tiny bunnies alone without a predator to back them up * Oh yes, please come in Mr It Was Me and kidnap our heroine * Please what was the point of the human and kids when they would just ship her off to a mental hospital (and our heroine hopes she never comes back - bitch)
This was just all kinds of wrong - not even the sex could smooth out this
What happens when you are a bunny shifter and your best friend is the Prima of the local lion pride? For one thing, bunnies are taken off the menu. For another thing, you start to hang around with lions. That's what happens to Carly, and that's how she finds her fated mate, Neal. The only problem is that he is a perpetual flirt and has a woman already hanging on him.
I felt sorry for Carly, I mean, of course she's going to want to find her perfect mate, the one person in the whole world who is perfect for her, and then for him to be a huge player? Yeah. Then again, it has to be hard for Neal too, since he has always been such a flirt. But it took him a hot minute to figure out what the problem is. There are a lot of funny moments in this story, but there are also a lot of very sad ones too.
What happens when who you want is not what you want. A great continuation of a fun storyline. I love the characters in these books! The women are so over the top outrageous that the men have no chance of keeping them under control. The big draw to this funny story is the deeper emotional turmoil that Carly feels because she wants to the the only one, not one of many, and Neal has been playing the field wide. There is a consistent threat from the Freedom faction, and when the story heats up, it boils. I felt bad for Beth, I wish that part could have been different, but I will definitely continue to read this series!
Meh. Carly is a rabbit shifter and Is disappointed that Neal is her mate as Neal is a flirty douche.
My main problem with this book is that Neal has 3, yes 3 kids with another woman. That’s not how these shifter books are supposed to work. The timeline doesn’t work either. Carly sees baby momma (clearly not pregnant) at a wedding reception. Carly sees Neal 6 months later and then she finds out about the kids, the youngest of which is 6 months old? That’s some weird math.
This one was better than the first one. I'm loving the plot and am glad I stuck with it. This one does end in a PLOT cliffhanger. Which doesn't bother me because the next book is already ready for me to read. I will say that I personally think these books have too many sexy times. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate it but with a book this length and that many sex scenes, it takes up a ton of story time.
This story has a bit more plot and suspense. Carly found her mate but struggled with his flirty ways and callin her darlin just like every other female was a blow, so she fought against him. But with a murder and a threat plus him finally getting it, she needs him. There is some violence and action in this that had me gripped and excited. Great characters for the most part easy to like. Started and finished 6/12/21
Neal and Carly's story is a fun romp leading into new arcs for coming books. I enjoyed the growth of both Neal and Carly. As always, Maya is the best. I also enjoyed the continued world building of Ridgeville and intriguing shifter politics. I think fans of Harmony Raines would enjoy this and other stories in this series.