Saint Lakes Collection: Volume One

Saint Lakes #1-4

by April Kelley

Saint Lakes Volume Book 1-4 + Special PackagesLeave it AllAll Lucas wants is to be normal. But it’s not possible when balls of light shoot out of his body and vampires chase him out of the city where he grew up. On the run, the last thing he expects is to find out dragon shifters are really. And one of them claims Lucas is his fated mate.

Bennett just gained a problem. They all center around Lucas. Not only does he find out Lucas is one of a kind, but Lucas also resists the mating pulling. One thing is for sure, though. Bennett must protect him at all costs because forces are mounting against Saint Lakes.

Everyone wants a piece of the witch. It’s up to Bennett to keep him safe but how can he when the enemy keeps getting closer.Running Out of MoonlightSage Rickman is afraid of everything. After suffering severe trauma at the hands of a vampire coven, the snake shifter doesn’t know if he’ll ever stop jumping at shadows. Discovering his fated mate is a feral dragon shifter just might be his undoing.

Garridan Arach has been set free. Not only has he been imprisoned for years but he’s also been stuck in his dragon shifter form. If his human and dragon sides can’t merge, not only will he lose his mate, but he might lose his new clan to the coven who held him captive.

With the enemy stalking Sage, healing is impossible. And it’s not just his sanity at stake but fate of the whole town.Right Side UpShawn knows a secret. His best friend is a witch. A whole vampire coven knows it too and they come after Shawn to get to the person they really want. When a wolf shifter rescues him from them brink of death, he’s not sure if he’s safe or in even more danger than before.

Gabriel is a defective wolf shifter. Or he thinks he is. He’d hurt someone he was supposed to love when he was a child. He’s afraid of hurting others too, so he keeps his distance. Especially from the little human with enough sass to anger an entire coven.

Some lessons are hard to learn. Especially for a human who’s far more capable than he’s ever given himself credit for and a wolf shifter who has a heart of gold.Where We AreForrest Somerset is a bobcat shifter on a mission. When you’re fated mates with an idiot vampire, the only recourse is to save him from himself. But what does he do when Angel’s trouble past makes him the bad guy?

Angel has a few wrongs to make right. If that means he has to turn himself over to the shifter council, then he’ll do it. He’ll do anything to keep his mate and the Saint Lakes safe.

But what happens when Angel’s good intentions go sideways and the only person who can save him is his little bobcat shifter?Special PackagesAs the oldest son of irresponsible, selfish parents, Craig doesn't remember the last time he shifted into his turtle form and took a nice relaxing swim. He's far too busy working two jobs and taking care of his six younger siblings. When Craig's mate comes crashing into the diner kitchen, where he's a cook, his life gets even more complicated.

As the oldest vampire in existence, Zadimus has spent a lot of his years alone and liked it. Zadimus never thought his introverted nature would ever be a problem until he meets his mate’s family.

Genres: M M Romance, Romance

819 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 30, 2023

About the author

Living in Southwest Michigan, April resides with her husband and two kids. She has been an avid reader for several years. Writing her first story at the age of ten, the characters in her head still won't stop telling their stories. If April isn't reading or writing she can be found outside playing with the animals or taking a long walk in the woods.

If you wish to contact her email authoraprilkelley@gmail.com.

Please visit her website at authoraprilkelley.com

Reviews

[Chancey "Does not give out 5's like candy" Knowles · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review covers all 13 books in the series. The only one that I felt might need a separate review was the last. I read them back to back through the purchase of 4 bundles. I would not have completed this series if they did not come bundled; mostly because there wasn't much that separated them from each other than different m/c's and progression through the story arc.

There are people who should not consider reading these books. Anyone even mildly sensitive to proofing and/or editing issues should avoid. There is not improvement as the books progress. Also, anyone that struggles to "go with the flow" when timelines are muddy to nonsensical should probably avoid. But for the laid back reader, who is looking for easy "brain candy" to pass the time - It's worth a look.

My comments while reading:
Transitions very choppy. Chapters or symbols not used consistently to denote a jump in time, POV, etc... This was very disruptuve to the reading flow and common throughout all the books.

Multiple editing and proofing issues often and throughout, from mild to severe:

Examples -
Minor ="because he kept tried to adopt" (100s like this.)

Moderate = "Tim saw the human before anyone else. He was in the pig barn... but it worked in their favor because Fane was in the rafters , watching. (The full context makes it even more obvious that if the human was already in the barn (as stated) Fane would see too if not 1st. At best, it's unclear. Plus, Tim's mission was to go find 2 others to get to his injured mate, not look for the human like it implied above. )

Just BAD = "...scrambled to find a way out of the shitstorm Jeff had just brought to his doorstep but he didn't know enough to see one about what was really happening to see one. " (No, I did not forget punctuation or mistype. I tripled check)
Just stupid = "And capturing Harold needs to be planned out. We can't make a mistake and have him reporting back to Harold." (No, there are not 2 characters named Harold.)

REALLY? THERE WAS AN EDITOR?

Timelines are the worst (amount of time elapsed was unclear or the implied lapse was not consistent from scene to scene.) At times, it is nonsensical, but often it's unclear to flat out Muddy.

With that said, I was able to go with it and just infer the author's intent. I enjoyed the stories and characters though none of it is fully developed (world, characters, etc...) . Just a few books in, and I was already forgetting who is paired with whom, but the author did a good job of keying my memory.

Fane and the kitten are about the only 2 things that were memorable immediately after finishing, so that doesn't bode well for anything sticking with me in a week much less a month.
A laid back reader, that enjoys this genre, and just wants to kill time is who should consider these books but in bundle form.
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[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gave up on this set of books , I found the storyline padded out and boring to the point I was skipping pages, eventually gave up