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Bonded Mates #1
Mate
When the primal force that drives wolves to claim a mate takes hold, there is no fighting it.
The moment we felt the mate bond, Kaci had only one choice to make. Surrender to instinct and bear our pups like a good girl, or force us to chase her down, belt her ass, and breed her hard.
She chose hard, and she got it. Over and over again.
But the truth is she was ours long before we marked her.
Publisher's Mate is a stand-alone romance novel that includes spankings, rough, intense sexual scenes, and strong D/s themes. If such material offends you, please don't buy this book.
The moment we felt the mate bond, Kaci had only one choice to make. Surrender to instinct and bear our pups like a good girl, or force us to chase her down, belt her ass, and breed her hard.
She chose hard, and she got it. Over and over again.
But the truth is she was ours long before we marked her.
Publisher's Mate is a stand-alone romance novel that includes spankings, rough, intense sexual scenes, and strong D/s themes. If such material offends you, please don't buy this book.
451 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 10, 2024
2734 people are currently reading
566 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 179 reviews
February 27, 2024
Not at all what the blurb leads you to believe this story is about.
I was very excited to read this book. Like throw dinner on the table and slink away to my cozy dark reading corner for the rest of the night and hibernate type excited.
Sadly I was completely let down in all of the worst ways.
I was expecting two OTT alpha Possessive mates who hunt their reluctant woman down and partake in lots of sexy non-con, dub-con, and punishment times while doing everything they can to show her just how much she belongs to them.
Nope.
What we get instead are two frat bro man whores who never want a mate and absolutely hate the inconvenience of finding her. Now before you get excited thinking this is a rejected mate story that turns to remorse and groveling because they learn that they do in fact want her… that’s not even close to what happens.
The alpha and beta share a mate and when they discover her they quickly devise a plan to ship her to the other side of the world so they don’t have to be around her, thus enabling them to continue to screw everything with legs. They don’t care in the slightest that she doesn’t want to leave her family and the only place she knows as home. They literally don’t care about her, they just want her gone.
That plan is very quickly foiled when the alpha learns that he will die if she’s away because of the mate bond. So their next brilliant idea is to basically lock her away in a mansion.
One mate even tries to sleep with another woman and the only reason he doesn’t is because his ding dong can’t rise to the occasion unless it’s for his mate. He 100% would have screwed that woman otherwise.
The alpha and beta spank (beat) her with a belt when she tries to escape the mansion. She still doesn’t know what’s going on at this point, she’s just trying to get away from the psychos who locked her up. I’m into non-con but this was bad.
The guys basically use her as a sex toy with zero care about HER. They try to break the bond and it doesn’t work so they very RELUCTANTLY just accept it for what it is.
They never at any point want her as a mate.
There was no jealousy or sexy possessiveness. This isn’t a romance, not even a “dark” romance, because there is ZERO romance. It’s not romantic to not be wanted.
If you still decide to read this book, just don’t get your hopes up. It’s not a fun time.
I was very excited to read this book. Like throw dinner on the table and slink away to my cozy dark reading corner for the rest of the night and hibernate type excited.
Sadly I was completely let down in all of the worst ways.
I was expecting two OTT alpha Possessive mates who hunt their reluctant woman down and partake in lots of sexy non-con, dub-con, and punishment times while doing everything they can to show her just how much she belongs to them.
Nope.
What we get instead are two frat bro man whores who never want a mate and absolutely hate the inconvenience of finding her. Now before you get excited thinking this is a rejected mate story that turns to remorse and groveling because they learn that they do in fact want her… that’s not even close to what happens.
The alpha and beta share a mate and when they discover her they quickly devise a plan to ship her to the other side of the world so they don’t have to be around her, thus enabling them to continue to screw everything with legs. They don’t care in the slightest that she doesn’t want to leave her family and the only place she knows as home. They literally don’t care about her, they just want her gone.
That plan is very quickly foiled when the alpha learns that he will die if she’s away because of the mate bond. So their next brilliant idea is to basically lock her away in a mansion.
One mate even tries to sleep with another woman and the only reason he doesn’t is because his ding dong can’t rise to the occasion unless it’s for his mate. He 100% would have screwed that woman otherwise.
The alpha and beta spank (beat) her with a belt when she tries to escape the mansion. She still doesn’t know what’s going on at this point, she’s just trying to get away from the psychos who locked her up. I’m into non-con but this was bad.
The guys basically use her as a sex toy with zero care about HER. They try to break the bond and it doesn’t work so they very RELUCTANTLY just accept it for what it is.
They never at any point want her as a mate.
There was no jealousy or sexy possessiveness. This isn’t a romance, not even a “dark” romance, because there is ZERO romance. It’s not romantic to not be wanted.
If you still decide to read this book, just don’t get your hopes up. It’s not a fun time.
January 28, 2025
I REALLY wish I would’ve read the reviews first, but I saw this on a rejected mate list and jumped in. Unfortunately, it’s not really a rejected mate scenario because she’s human and clueless for a large chunk, and there’s no formal rejecting.
The biggest letdown were the H’s that were portrayed like a couple of manchild fuckboys. Caelum and Ryker are the alpha and beta of a pack that runs a college. They choose to embrace their human sides and lead through intellect rather than tooth and claw. Caelum serves as the university president and Ryker is his provost, the rest of their pack (from what I could tell) were teachers and students (all male) and enjoy their freedom to sleep with loads of human females.
The book opens with Kaci jokingly casting a spell that locks her with her mates, Caelum and Ryker. Sadly, the guys are not down with having a mate and plan to get rid of her, but the bond makes that impossible. The rest consists of them whining about the bond and getting mad at Kaci when she does things because they never communicate with her.
There were no feels. I didn’t care for the “intellectual alpha” that depended on his beta to protect him. And there were some illogical bits like her eavesdropping on the baddie convo with her human ears but them not hearing her break a freaking chair with their wolf.
Bottom Line- Not great. I hated the grown men acting like frat boys mentality. In a nutshell…
They’re gonna have to suck it up, and you need to stop pandering to these asshats who are only pouting because they feel like if an alpha female takes charge, then they’re gonna end up mating, too, because of the domino effect.
Safety-
The biggest letdown were the H’s that were portrayed like a couple of manchild fuckboys. Caelum and Ryker are the alpha and beta of a pack that runs a college. They choose to embrace their human sides and lead through intellect rather than tooth and claw. Caelum serves as the university president and Ryker is his provost, the rest of their pack (from what I could tell) were teachers and students (all male) and enjoy their freedom to sleep with loads of human females.
The book opens with Kaci jokingly casting a spell that locks her with her mates, Caelum and Ryker. Sadly, the guys are not down with having a mate and plan to get rid of her, but the bond makes that impossible. The rest consists of them whining about the bond and getting mad at Kaci when she does things because they never communicate with her.
There were no feels. I didn’t care for the “intellectual alpha” that depended on his beta to protect him. And there were some illogical bits like her eavesdropping on the baddie convo with her human ears but them not hearing her break a freaking chair with their wolf.
Bottom Line- Not great. I hated the grown men acting like frat boys mentality. In a nutshell…
They’re gonna have to suck it up, and you need to stop pandering to these asshats who are only pouting because they feel like if an alpha female takes charge, then they’re gonna end up mating, too, because of the domino effect.
Safety-
Read
February 25, 2024DNF. I had to scroll through pages and pages and pages just to get to any type of dialogue between characters.
Not my style of writing.
Not my style of writing.
July 2, 2024
2.5 stars
The blurb sets you up for a very different experience than what you actually get, and I might have rated higher except I was expecting one thing and got another. This is actually a rejected mate, enemies to lovers romance with no breeding and very reluctant mates. Not the OTT enthusiastic breeding heroes the Blurb suggests.
~ MFM rejected mate
~ Dom/sub non con
~ University president/provost with student
~ age gap (19/39)
This review will contain spoilers. First, I love non con, so my 3 star review won’t be because of that. There were inconsistencies that bothered me, miscommunication and unrealistic expectations that didn’t make sense.
A spell is performed and human sophomore Kaci draws her two lycan mates to her, the University President Caelum and his Provost Ryker, also Alpha/Beta of the university Lycan pack. Neither of them want a mate. They want to continue their manhore ways and don’t want the liability. They both are very crude and insistent on this.
They try to ship her off but discover the mate bond physically won’t let them. I loved this 😁. It’s always the female in pain when it comes to mate bonds, this time it was the guys which was just wonderful. Ryker tries to sleep with another woman, but he can’t get it up because of the bond. If he could, then he would have, which made me think less of him.
They decide to tuck Kaci away in a mansion on campus but they don’t explain anything to her, they just tell her to stay put and expect her to stay put. Of course she doesn’t and then Cal hunts her in wolf form and feels like he has to punish her so he spanks her with his belt for way way too long and then forces oral on her.
She thinks she’s hallucinating and neither of her mates notice her poor mental state. These mates really suck 🤷♀️.
So starts a pattern of not telling Kaci anything but expecting her to just obey and punishing her when she doesn’t.
For example, not telling her that traveling apart will hurt them. She was actually trying to help find a way out of the bond. But did they talk to her at all? Nope. Kaci just had to take what they gave her including painful first times with each of them with threats to force anal and not stopping if she said no.
Kaci of course begins to enjoy the over the top spankings and extremely rough monster cock sex, or at least her body does. I would have enjoyed it more too if I felt the reasons behind the punishments were reasonable, but they weren’t bc our guys suck at communicating.
Anyway, enter the villain, the kidnapping. After the kidnapping scene all the sudden the guys go from absolutely not wanting a mate to being resigned to having a mate. It was too quick a transition. One day they all wanted nothing to do with each other besides sex, the next they were all good and joking.
There was no breeding or breeding talk other than no condoms used and agreeing until after the graduation to knock Kaci up. Yes the guys chase her but not because they want her as a mate, only because they can’t physically be away from her. So the blurb is not accurate. We get some primal chase at the end in wolf form.
If you like non con OTT spanking with power exchange, this book is for you. Just don’t expect anything close to the blurb.
The blurb sets you up for a very different experience than what you actually get, and I might have rated higher except I was expecting one thing and got another. This is actually a rejected mate, enemies to lovers romance with no breeding and very reluctant mates. Not the OTT enthusiastic breeding heroes the Blurb suggests.
~ MFM rejected mate
~ Dom/sub non con
~ University president/provost with student
~ age gap (19/39)
This review will contain spoilers. First, I love non con, so my 3 star review won’t be because of that. There were inconsistencies that bothered me, miscommunication and unrealistic expectations that didn’t make sense.
A spell is performed and human sophomore Kaci draws her two lycan mates to her, the University President Caelum and his Provost Ryker, also Alpha/Beta of the university Lycan pack. Neither of them want a mate. They want to continue their manhore ways and don’t want the liability. They both are very crude and insistent on this.
They try to ship her off but discover the mate bond physically won’t let them. I loved this 😁. It’s always the female in pain when it comes to mate bonds, this time it was the guys which was just wonderful. Ryker tries to sleep with another woman, but he can’t get it up because of the bond. If he could, then he would have, which made me think less of him.
They decide to tuck Kaci away in a mansion on campus but they don’t explain anything to her, they just tell her to stay put and expect her to stay put. Of course she doesn’t and then Cal hunts her in wolf form and feels like he has to punish her so he spanks her with his belt for way way too long and then forces oral on her.
She thinks she’s hallucinating and neither of her mates notice her poor mental state. These mates really suck 🤷♀️.
So starts a pattern of not telling Kaci anything but expecting her to just obey and punishing her when she doesn’t.
For example, not telling her that traveling apart will hurt them. She was actually trying to help find a way out of the bond. But did they talk to her at all? Nope. Kaci just had to take what they gave her including painful first times with each of them with threats to force anal and not stopping if she said no.
Kaci of course begins to enjoy the over the top spankings and extremely rough monster cock sex, or at least her body does. I would have enjoyed it more too if I felt the reasons behind the punishments were reasonable, but they weren’t bc our guys suck at communicating.
Anyway, enter the villain, the kidnapping. After the kidnapping scene all the sudden the guys go from absolutely not wanting a mate to being resigned to having a mate. It was too quick a transition. One day they all wanted nothing to do with each other besides sex, the next they were all good and joking.
There was no breeding or breeding talk other than no condoms used and agreeing until after the graduation to knock Kaci up. Yes the guys chase her but not because they want her as a mate, only because they can’t physically be away from her. So the blurb is not accurate. We get some primal chase at the end in wolf form.
If you like non con OTT spanking with power exchange, this book is for you. Just don’t expect anything close to the blurb.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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February 19, 2024Nothing to see here, folks.
June 27, 2024
Blurb is misleading. The MMCs are some forty year old manwhores that have little to no substance as characters or men. Caelum is the President of the University, while Ryker is the Provost. Both positions that are often, on average, held by people in their 60s, especially considering the length of time required to obtain one PhD, let alone two like Caelum has. The pack described is full of alleged 40 year old men preying on grad students. The FMC, Kaci, is a 19 year old in her sophomore year of college. She lacks a lot of personality, similar to her mates and the rest of the pack.
The MMCs don't want a mate, so they attempt to ship her off and learn that the distance could literally kill them. They bring her back, share no info with her, and try to lock her up (unsuccessfully). She escapes (not really), and Caelum beats her to teach her a lesson. A rival pack arrives, beats Caelum's ass. Kaci gaslights herself about the MMCs being lycans, both she and the MMCs attempt to break the bond (again, unsuccessfully). They begrudgingly decide to accept her, she gets kidnapped, they go crazy, she breaks herself out. Rival gang show up after they bond, she beats their asses and that's pretty much it. This book has a lot of the MMCs telling Kaci, "You need to obey us" and Kaci saying, "Nooo" then giving in. Oh and for supposed geniuses, these men were all extremely moronic and unintelligent, they also gave off 'divorced fathers trying to be frat bros' vibes.
Boooooring. I'm bored. Those were the thoughts rolling through my mind while reading this. I also felt yucky reading this, the way the MMCs talked about women's roles and how they referred to Kaci and women in general gave me trad wife energy. It walked an extremely thin line there, only once having a character mention how we live in an extremely patriarchal society.
Here's a real paragraph from this book that gave me the ick: "Once a female was yours, then she fell in line like anyone else from your pack. The only difference was that if she didn’t fucking like it, it was too goddamn bad. Claimed females did not leave their pack. Oh, right. That was not the human world today at all. Both ways—men didn’t know how to lead, and women didn’t know how to follow."
🤢🤢 That last line is some shit one of the weird alpha podcast bros that only date "high value women" would say. That's not the only part of the book that gave me the ick, but it's a major part. I wouldn't recommend this book, if not for the ick factor, then definitely for the fact that I've read more interesting pamphlets.
The MMCs don't want a mate, so they attempt to ship her off and learn that the distance could literally kill them. They bring her back, share no info with her, and try to lock her up (unsuccessfully). She escapes (not really), and Caelum beats her to teach her a lesson. A rival pack arrives, beats Caelum's ass. Kaci gaslights herself about the MMCs being lycans, both she and the MMCs attempt to break the bond (again, unsuccessfully). They begrudgingly decide to accept her, she gets kidnapped, they go crazy, she breaks herself out. Rival gang show up after they bond, she beats their asses and that's pretty much it. This book has a lot of the MMCs telling Kaci, "You need to obey us" and Kaci saying, "Nooo" then giving in. Oh and for supposed geniuses, these men were all extremely moronic and unintelligent, they also gave off 'divorced fathers trying to be frat bros' vibes.
Boooooring. I'm bored. Those were the thoughts rolling through my mind while reading this. I also felt yucky reading this, the way the MMCs talked about women's roles and how they referred to Kaci and women in general gave me trad wife energy. It walked an extremely thin line there, only once having a character mention how we live in an extremely patriarchal society.
Here's a real paragraph from this book that gave me the ick: "Once a female was yours, then she fell in line like anyone else from your pack. The only difference was that if she didn’t fucking like it, it was too goddamn bad. Claimed females did not leave their pack. Oh, right. That was not the human world today at all. Both ways—men didn’t know how to lead, and women didn’t know how to follow."
🤢🤢 That last line is some shit one of the weird alpha podcast bros that only date "high value women" would say. That's not the only part of the book that gave me the ick, but it's a major part. I wouldn't recommend this book, if not for the ick factor, then definitely for the fact that I've read more interesting pamphlets.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 16, 2024
This book barely made 2 stars where was the relationship. They are mated they try to get her to leave then when that does not work they try to reverse it and be unmated and when that does not work they just give up. No love no possession no jealousy no have to have her boring. How in the world is this Korey Mae Johnson this is light years behind baby girl. So disappointing!
July 6, 2024
First off, there are no trigger warnings listed in the book. It’s labeled as a ‘dark romance’, but the only warning IN the book is: “This book is intended for adults only. Spanking and other sexual activities represented in this book are fantasies only, intended for adults.” Which is barely a warning. The only trigger warnings in the blurb are: “It includes spankings, rough, intense sexual scenes, and strong D/s themes.” There are NO other listed trigger warnings anywhere that I could find (author and publisher websites included).
A more accurate (non spoiler) trigger warning list (off the top of my head only) is: Non-con, primal play, physical assault, drugging, kidnap, talk of sexual assault, age gap(19/39), unequal power dynamic, and there are SO many more.
It gets vaguely more specific (but still generally spoiler free) from here on.
- - - - -
This book is just a big WTF compared to what I thought I was getting from the blurb. The blurb states: “When the primal force that drives wolves to claim a mate takes hold, there is no fighting it.” UH THEY DID EFFING FIGHT IT. Every step of the way until it literally was getting to the point that there was a life-or-death stakes battle brewing. They don’t even talk the least bit positive about the FMC other than her physical attributes (that they objectify and sexualize) until about halfway through the story.
���Kaci had only one choice to make. Surrender to instinct and bear our pups like a good girl, or force us to chase her down, belt her ass, and breed her. She chose hard, and she got it.” Yup. Let’s blame the multiple assaults they force on her on her. Great. Because they didn’t ever actually explain things to her or gave her a choice, they blackmailed her and took her from her dorm at the beginning, and she literally had almost no autonomy from there on out.
There is A LOT of non-con that I would almost outright list as rape because the FMC LITERALLY TELLS THEM NO multiple times when the MC’s take things from their spanking (IE ass beatings with hands, belts, and a branch) to actual penetration. There is dub-con for the spankings, but she is said in the book to literally have been sobbing and begging for them to stop belting her (which they don’t heed, they keep going until they deem she has been ‘punished enough’, ‘is sorry enough’, or ‘learned her lesson’). FMC has a physical response that the MMC’s take as her liking it, but she is literally saying no the WHOLE way through.
There are multiple instances when things got non-consensual with instances of the FMC telling a MMC to literally get out of her.
I know romance novels are NOT where people should learn about safe D/s relationships, but when your blurb is promising that the relationship between the FMC and MMCs is Dom/sub and all you get is non-consent, I feel like it does a disservice to everyone and leads to lots of misunderstandings. There is no talk of safe words, of agreeing that “no” in their ‘play’ (if you could call it that) actually means they can keep going and not stop, and the MMC’s just do what they want and push and disregard her no’s at every opportunity.
The characters in general aren’t very likable. None of them. The world and character building in the story is almost non existent. It is the first in a series, but the beginning of the story felt like being thrown into a story that started without me. Like I was already missing things. Most of the story is told, not shown. There aren’t a lot of even character description used other than talking about physical size and the size of the MC’s (both MMC and FMC’s) genitalia.
I finished it because I am on a no DNF streak. I am pretty good at suspending my disbelief and reading books with rose-colored glasses and I can overlook a lot, but this one was a lot and nothing at the same time.
A more accurate (non spoiler) trigger warning list (off the top of my head only) is: Non-con, primal play, physical assault, drugging, kidnap, talk of sexual assault, age gap(19/39), unequal power dynamic, and there are SO many more.
It gets vaguely more specific (but still generally spoiler free) from here on.
- - - - -
This book is just a big WTF compared to what I thought I was getting from the blurb. The blurb states: “When the primal force that drives wolves to claim a mate takes hold, there is no fighting it.” UH THEY DID EFFING FIGHT IT. Every step of the way until it literally was getting to the point that there was a life-or-death stakes battle brewing. They don’t even talk the least bit positive about the FMC other than her physical attributes (that they objectify and sexualize) until about halfway through the story.
���Kaci had only one choice to make. Surrender to instinct and bear our pups like a good girl, or force us to chase her down, belt her ass, and breed her. She chose hard, and she got it.” Yup. Let’s blame the multiple assaults they force on her on her. Great. Because they didn’t ever actually explain things to her or gave her a choice, they blackmailed her and took her from her dorm at the beginning, and she literally had almost no autonomy from there on out.
There is A LOT of non-con that I would almost outright list as rape because the FMC LITERALLY TELLS THEM NO multiple times when the MC’s take things from their spanking (IE ass beatings with hands, belts, and a branch) to actual penetration. There is dub-con for the spankings, but she is said in the book to literally have been sobbing and begging for them to stop belting her (which they don’t heed, they keep going until they deem she has been ‘punished enough’, ‘is sorry enough’, or ‘learned her lesson’). FMC has a physical response that the MMC’s take as her liking it, but she is literally saying no the WHOLE way through.
There are multiple instances when things got non-consensual with instances of the FMC telling a MMC to literally get out of her.
I know romance novels are NOT where people should learn about safe D/s relationships, but when your blurb is promising that the relationship between the FMC and MMCs is Dom/sub and all you get is non-consent, I feel like it does a disservice to everyone and leads to lots of misunderstandings. There is no talk of safe words, of agreeing that “no” in their ‘play’ (if you could call it that) actually means they can keep going and not stop, and the MMC’s just do what they want and push and disregard her no’s at every opportunity.
The characters in general aren’t very likable. None of them. The world and character building in the story is almost non existent. It is the first in a series, but the beginning of the story felt like being thrown into a story that started without me. Like I was already missing things. Most of the story is told, not shown. There aren’t a lot of even character description used other than talking about physical size and the size of the MC’s (both MMC and FMC’s) genitalia.
I finished it because I am on a no DNF streak. I am pretty good at suspending my disbelief and reading books with rose-colored glasses and I can overlook a lot, but this one was a lot and nothing at the same time.
June 30, 2024
Excellent
I have only started a book by one the authors and it was a DNF. This book I couldn’t put down. I loved the whimsical magic. Only very small dislike was that they didn’t lose their clothes when they shifted. Can’t wait for book 2 of the duet. 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥/5 steamy
I have only started a book by one the authors and it was a DNF. This book I couldn’t put down. I loved the whimsical magic. Only very small dislike was that they didn’t lose their clothes when they shifted. Can’t wait for book 2 of the duet. 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥/5 steamy
March 26, 2024
That was a super fun read and exactly what I was looking for. Some of the world building was lacking and a couple times found some inconsistencies, but I wasn’t really reading it for an in depth drama. Perfect amount of smut.
May 7, 2025
Caelum, Ryker and Kaci
November 17, 2025
i didn’t like anyone in this book.
July 25, 2024
Spanking, beating, and abuse (referenced but detailed spoiler alert)
I didn't read the description because a friend recommended the book. Reading the description after, I don't know that reading "spanking" would have prepared my mind to interpret the poor synonym choice of "beatings." My friend was on book 2 of this bonded mates series and didn't think she'd finish. I asked what the title was and found book 1. I don't need to and won't read book 2. I think there's spanking, and then there's this, which is abuse and rape to me. The fact that the beatings were on hidden parts of her body didn't make it better. They may as well have punched or backhanded her in the face repeatedly.
When a man (or wolves in this instance) takes off his belt or creates switches from trees to "spank" a woman into submission, it's a beating and it's abuse. When welts are left on the body, it's physical abuse. When you're forced to give fallatio, it's rape. When you're chased through the woods and your clothes are ripped off you unwillingly, and you're beaten, turned around, pushed against a tree, thrown on the ground, given oral, and nearly penetrated, it's sexual assault. No. Matter. What. No matter the response the body has. She says no repeatedly throughout. She says stop. And they never do. They force. They coerce. They ignore. It isn't love. It isn't caring. It isn't respect. It isn't romantic. This is not because of ideas of what's taboo in a bedroom but because the character being chased and beaten shouldn't spend half her story questioning whether she's okay. If she consented, and they explored, and then it was too far, and they worked her to consenting comfortability, then fine. Let her address and evaluate and play all day in the dark, but the moment she says I think I was any kind of negative idea, it's a no for me. The moment she must create a hallucination to cope with an experience, it's a no for me. Because now we're dealing with trauma, and that is never something we should play with.
Oh, there was one time she "consented." But it was tainted by the fact that they were beating her with a tree switch, and she asked for $ex, so they would stop the beating. This was at the end when she already knew she was going to be punished.
So for someone like me who skirts the outermost edge of dark romance, a trigger warning/ explanation of the type of dark acts would be great in a synopsis. Even better, simply calling things what they are would go a long way. Bold enough to write the dark/ taboo side of relationships, and put your name on it. Then call it what it is. A spanking my behind. That girl was being beaten.
I didn't read the description because a friend recommended the book. Reading the description after, I don't know that reading "spanking" would have prepared my mind to interpret the poor synonym choice of "beatings." My friend was on book 2 of this bonded mates series and didn't think she'd finish. I asked what the title was and found book 1. I don't need to and won't read book 2. I think there's spanking, and then there's this, which is abuse and rape to me. The fact that the beatings were on hidden parts of her body didn't make it better. They may as well have punched or backhanded her in the face repeatedly.
When a man (or wolves in this instance) takes off his belt or creates switches from trees to "spank" a woman into submission, it's a beating and it's abuse. When welts are left on the body, it's physical abuse. When you're forced to give fallatio, it's rape. When you're chased through the woods and your clothes are ripped off you unwillingly, and you're beaten, turned around, pushed against a tree, thrown on the ground, given oral, and nearly penetrated, it's sexual assault. No. Matter. What. No matter the response the body has. She says no repeatedly throughout. She says stop. And they never do. They force. They coerce. They ignore. It isn't love. It isn't caring. It isn't respect. It isn't romantic. This is not because of ideas of what's taboo in a bedroom but because the character being chased and beaten shouldn't spend half her story questioning whether she's okay. If she consented, and they explored, and then it was too far, and they worked her to consenting comfortability, then fine. Let her address and evaluate and play all day in the dark, but the moment she says I think I was any kind of negative idea, it's a no for me. The moment she must create a hallucination to cope with an experience, it's a no for me. Because now we're dealing with trauma, and that is never something we should play with.
Oh, there was one time she "consented." But it was tainted by the fact that they were beating her with a tree switch, and she asked for $ex, so they would stop the beating. This was at the end when she already knew she was going to be punished.
So for someone like me who skirts the outermost edge of dark romance, a trigger warning/ explanation of the type of dark acts would be great in a synopsis. Even better, simply calling things what they are would go a long way. Bold enough to write the dark/ taboo side of relationships, and put your name on it. Then call it what it is. A spanking my behind. That girl was being beaten.
August 4, 2024
This was probably one of the worst pieces of trash I've ever read (and that saying something). Also, the blurb is NOTHING like the actual story at all. DNF.
This is possibly THE MOST UNSEXY, boring book ever. We start with the male leads, Ryker and Caelum, two horndog dudes whose only goal is to sleep with anything that moves. Then we get Kaci, our female lead (boring with no personality; she saw two wolves once and started smoking weed to cope).
Maybe it gets better? Maybe it'll be like the blurb that she doesn't want a mate but they convince her?
NOPE.
They want nothing to do with her, aren't even really attracted to her and literally blackmail her / try to ship her off to an "abroad study" program so they don't have to deal with her (and they only scrap that plan when they start getting sick because the mate bond is killing them) like literally they could not care less that they were ripping a girl from her friends and family and life to ship her across the world but they only care when they're impacted. Yuck.
They'll fix it right? They'll realize how horrible they're being to her?
ALSO NOPE.
These bastards decide to lock her in an abandoned mansion (they even say they want her chained to a bed so they can have easy access to fuck her when they want - so very "romantic") Barf.
What does our heroine do? What any sane woman would do, she runs for it. This culminates in the Dr. Chasing her through the woods as a wolf, stripping her naked and beating her with a belt.... She's sobbing and screaming no and then he forces her down and eats her out in the snow, acknowledging she doesn't really want this but "she's wet so she does" ..... The only reason he doesn't finish taking her right there is they get attacked.
I tried to keep reading a few chapters after that but I was done.
This is possibly THE MOST UNSEXY, boring book ever. We start with the male leads, Ryker and Caelum, two horndog dudes whose only goal is to sleep with anything that moves. Then we get Kaci, our female lead (boring with no personality; she saw two wolves once and started smoking weed to cope).
Maybe it gets better? Maybe it'll be like the blurb that she doesn't want a mate but they convince her?
NOPE.
They want nothing to do with her, aren't even really attracted to her and literally blackmail her / try to ship her off to an "abroad study" program so they don't have to deal with her (and they only scrap that plan when they start getting sick because the mate bond is killing them) like literally they could not care less that they were ripping a girl from her friends and family and life to ship her across the world but they only care when they're impacted. Yuck.
They'll fix it right? They'll realize how horrible they're being to her?
ALSO NOPE.
These bastards decide to lock her in an abandoned mansion (they even say they want her chained to a bed so they can have easy access to fuck her when they want - so very "romantic") Barf.
What does our heroine do? What any sane woman would do, she runs for it. This culminates in the Dr. Chasing her through the woods as a wolf, stripping her naked and beating her with a belt.... She's sobbing and screaming no and then he forces her down and eats her out in the snow, acknowledging she doesn't really want this but "she's wet so she does" ..... The only reason he doesn't finish taking her right there is they get attacked.
I tried to keep reading a few chapters after that but I was done.
February 12, 2024
Not my thing!
I don't know where to begin with this book!! Did I read the whole thing? Yes, but that's only because I ALWAYS finish a book, no matter how bad it is.
Was the book bad? Not exactly. It was just somewhat boring and made me angry at times. I did like the approach of the story, though. It was about a normal human college student who does a love spell, and she finds herself mated to two Lycans. An Alpha and his Beta ( apparently alphas and Betas always mate the same girl so there will never be a coup).
So this human finds herself attached to these two mystical creatures who are in the middle of a turf war with a rogue pack, and together, they seek help from a witch, her demon boyfriend, a shadow man and a goblin disguised as a cat. So this girl is obviously out of her element. So, as much as I liked the premis of the story, I didn't like how her mates treated her. I myself don't have triggers per se, but I do hate when men think they have power over women just because they are bigger and stronger! On her second meeting with her alpha mate, he spanks the s**t out of her and basically r8pes her for escaping what she believes to be a hostage situation. The same thing happens with the beta!! Through the whole book, every sexual interaction has some sort of non consent!! Maybe others like to read about that stuff, but it's not my jam. I'm all for a playful spank session, but for fun, not punishment!
Also, the rogue situation was dealt with in one day! I mean, throw some action and some intrigue into the story!!!
I don't know where to begin with this book!! Did I read the whole thing? Yes, but that's only because I ALWAYS finish a book, no matter how bad it is.
Was the book bad? Not exactly. It was just somewhat boring and made me angry at times. I did like the approach of the story, though. It was about a normal human college student who does a love spell, and she finds herself mated to two Lycans. An Alpha and his Beta ( apparently alphas and Betas always mate the same girl so there will never be a coup).
So this human finds herself attached to these two mystical creatures who are in the middle of a turf war with a rogue pack, and together, they seek help from a witch, her demon boyfriend, a shadow man and a goblin disguised as a cat. So this girl is obviously out of her element. So, as much as I liked the premis of the story, I didn't like how her mates treated her. I myself don't have triggers per se, but I do hate when men think they have power over women just because they are bigger and stronger! On her second meeting with her alpha mate, he spanks the s**t out of her and basically r8pes her for escaping what she believes to be a hostage situation. The same thing happens with the beta!! Through the whole book, every sexual interaction has some sort of non consent!! Maybe others like to read about that stuff, but it's not my jam. I'm all for a playful spank session, but for fun, not punishment!
Also, the rogue situation was dealt with in one day! I mean, throw some action and some intrigue into the story!!!
October 14, 2024
DNF for me.
These are 39 year old frat boys who talk only about sleeping around, who made a pack to ignore being wolves and get to live rich bachelor lives. They are president and provost of a university but sleep with every girl they come across at the college parties they apparently attend as grown ass almost 40 year old men, their only line being they don't sleep with undergrads. So they scent their mate and go off on how this ruins their lives and how inconvenient a mate would be so they try to just ditch her somewhere across the country away from everyone she cares about just because it's convenient for them. At no time do they care for her romantically. It's just a biological need and they're angry and mean about it.
And a 19 year old who doesn't wear anything but see through crop tops without bras and short shorts, and is obsessed with drinking and smoking pot (like brings it up over and over). Her personality is being an average student and good at running various clubs.
This is the entire personalities of everyone involved.
It's dark non con I guess and I love that, but the MMCs should actually *want* the FMC. Not just be inconvenienced fuck boys.
Anyways it read like a 16 year old wrote it after watching both Animal House and Twilight and I just couldn't imagine attractive men around my age acting and thinking like these two. So no go for me.
These are 39 year old frat boys who talk only about sleeping around, who made a pack to ignore being wolves and get to live rich bachelor lives. They are president and provost of a university but sleep with every girl they come across at the college parties they apparently attend as grown ass almost 40 year old men, their only line being they don't sleep with undergrads. So they scent their mate and go off on how this ruins their lives and how inconvenient a mate would be so they try to just ditch her somewhere across the country away from everyone she cares about just because it's convenient for them. At no time do they care for her romantically. It's just a biological need and they're angry and mean about it.
And a 19 year old who doesn't wear anything but see through crop tops without bras and short shorts, and is obsessed with drinking and smoking pot (like brings it up over and over). Her personality is being an average student and good at running various clubs.
This is the entire personalities of everyone involved.
It's dark non con I guess and I love that, but the MMCs should actually *want* the FMC. Not just be inconvenienced fuck boys.
Anyways it read like a 16 year old wrote it after watching both Animal House and Twilight and I just couldn't imagine attractive men around my age acting and thinking like these two. So no go for me.
June 19, 2024
How old are you again?
“We had already hit up the kegger that the guys below me were in the middle of throwing. I had glad-handed everybody in there until I was certain that I knew everyone there, that everyone had been introduced to my sister, and that I was cool enough to get invited.” (And, wow, “everybody” and “everyone” used three times in a single sentence.)
(Then several paragraphs later…)
“Besides, when I was with my sister, looking was off-limits. She didn’t like attention, and I didn’t like her getting attention, either.”
So, then why did you go round a keg party introducing your sister to everybody and making sure everyone knows how “cool” you are. Authors, you’re seriously just tossing crap out there that doesn’t make sense, that’s contradictory. I mean, WTAF? Do you think your readers are a brainless set of eyes? Wait—do you even have brains yourselves? Or an editor?
I read a few more paragraphs after that and determined the following: the FMC is not intelligent, interesting, or unique. In fact, she’s an adequate representation of an immature, sexxx-starved, self-absorbed high school drama queen with a 2.5 GPA. Her sister is hardly any better.
Absolutely DNFing this BS.
“We had already hit up the kegger that the guys below me were in the middle of throwing. I had glad-handed everybody in there until I was certain that I knew everyone there, that everyone had been introduced to my sister, and that I was cool enough to get invited.” (And, wow, “everybody” and “everyone” used three times in a single sentence.)
(Then several paragraphs later…)
“Besides, when I was with my sister, looking was off-limits. She didn’t like attention, and I didn’t like her getting attention, either.”
So, then why did you go round a keg party introducing your sister to everybody and making sure everyone knows how “cool” you are. Authors, you’re seriously just tossing crap out there that doesn’t make sense, that’s contradictory. I mean, WTAF? Do you think your readers are a brainless set of eyes? Wait—do you even have brains yourselves? Or an editor?
I read a few more paragraphs after that and determined the following: the FMC is not intelligent, interesting, or unique. In fact, she’s an adequate representation of an immature, sexxx-starved, self-absorbed high school drama queen with a 2.5 GPA. Her sister is hardly any better.
Absolutely DNFing this BS.
August 18, 2024
Had to read it for work and I'm not particularly happy with what I just read. I understand that being "rough" and being treated a certain way in the sheets is a preference and I'm not judging anyone who likes to get freaky in bed.
If you're into relatively detailed "*ss-play" then this book is for you. If you like cozy roms with really nice guys who treat women well then DO NOT READ THIS AT ALL. It will traumatize you and question why women like the FP exist and to be frank, judging these women isn't fair. Live and let live, right?
1 star only cz I like the kooky world-building.
FP is pure annoying so no stars for her. MP 1 is also annoying so no stars for him. MP 2 is okayish only since his dialogue is very true to his character and I respect that so 0.5 for him would've been one if he wasn't such as idiot in bed..
If you're into relatively detailed "*ss-play" then this book is for you. If you like cozy roms with really nice guys who treat women well then DO NOT READ THIS AT ALL. It will traumatize you and question why women like the FP exist and to be frank, judging these women isn't fair. Live and let live, right?
1 star only cz I like the kooky world-building.
FP is pure annoying so no stars for her. MP 1 is also annoying so no stars for him. MP 2 is okayish only since his dialogue is very true to his character and I respect that so 0.5 for him would've been one if he wasn't such as idiot in bed..
February 24, 2024
If you’re expecting a lot of romance this isn’t the read. It’s more of a rejected mate story. The MMCs try to get rid of the FMC for most of the book and then when that doesn’t work they reluctantly accept her. But they give her no say in anything.
In fact at one point they’re basically telling her what to do, she pouts like a literal child and when she doesn’t listen they brutally whoop her (literally) and then bang her.
That’s pretty much the plot.
I’m not much into spanking so full on hitting with a belt and even a switch didn’t really do it for me. This didn’t influence how I rated the book but boy was there a lot of it.
2.5 stars because the smut was hot but they treated the FMC with little respect and she was oddly okay with it.
July 20, 2024
The start was promising, I still held out hope in the middle but everything after 70% was just ridiculous. Never mind that she got belted without knowing the rules, repercussions or reasons for them to go insane on her. They just fucked her into loving them. No understanding or empathy from them whatsoever and certainly no caring behaviour. So they're sexy duh, they punish her, make her orgasm, fuck her in a way that actually hurts (but gets brushed off as turning her on anyway) and that's more or less all there is to their relationship which was really disappointing all around.
The premise was good, but nothing of the claims in the first chapters regarding their characters was shown throughout the book.
The premise was good, but nothing of the claims in the first chapters regarding their characters was shown throughout the book.
August 29, 2024
2,5⭐️
When two seemingly alphas idiots find their mate, they take a few bad decisions before having no choice in face of danger but stop being stupid.
I didn’t believe one second in this trio. The guys weren’t sexy dominant males but more pervy brutes and frankly the girl didn’t put a credible fight with them.
The background felt like a Disney picture for adult, with simplistic magic scenes and childish details. For example, when the lycans shift back to their humans forms, they are dressed, ridiculous socks and all…
To conclude, it was a not a bad read (2,5 is the middle ground after all) but the story was shallow as if the authors tried too hard but were completely out of their league.
When two seemingly alphas idiots find their mate, they take a few bad decisions before having no choice in face of danger but stop being stupid.
I didn’t believe one second in this trio. The guys weren’t sexy dominant males but more pervy brutes and frankly the girl didn’t put a credible fight with them.
The background felt like a Disney picture for adult, with simplistic magic scenes and childish details. For example, when the lycans shift back to their humans forms, they are dressed, ridiculous socks and all…
To conclude, it was a not a bad read (2,5 is the middle ground after all) but the story was shallow as if the authors tried too hard but were completely out of their league.
April 16, 2024
DNF'd @ 58%.
This book came highly recommended by my Cousin, she absolutely loved it, and I couldn't wait to dive into it.
What I loved about this book was all the different elements/magical creatures/beings. I loved the premise of this story as well.
The things that didn't work for me personally, was the relationship between the FMC and the 2 MC's. There were some boundaries being crossed/pushed a bit too much for my liking. Parts of their relationship just didn't make sense to me. Or I should say, didn't seem believable.
Overall, I just didn't want to pick up this book and continue, so that was when I decided to call it quits for me.
This book came highly recommended by my Cousin, she absolutely loved it, and I couldn't wait to dive into it.
What I loved about this book was all the different elements/magical creatures/beings. I loved the premise of this story as well.
The things that didn't work for me personally, was the relationship between the FMC and the 2 MC's. There were some boundaries being crossed/pushed a bit too much for my liking. Parts of their relationship just didn't make sense to me. Or I should say, didn't seem believable.
Overall, I just didn't want to pick up this book and continue, so that was when I decided to call it quits for me.
January 31, 2024
Eh
Yes, the very title said it was dark, but I wasn't prepared for how selfish the males would be. Then halfway through the story they completely flip. Especially Ryker, he goes from a hard man to an old softie who loves cuddles. The female is only 19, while the men are 39?40? Didn't realize it was an age-gap, but what made it worse is that the males were the president and provost of the university where the female was a student. Umm, pretty certain there are rules against that.
Yes, the very title said it was dark, but I wasn't prepared for how selfish the males would be. Then halfway through the story they completely flip. Especially Ryker, he goes from a hard man to an old softie who loves cuddles. The female is only 19, while the men are 39?40? Didn't realize it was an age-gap, but what made it worse is that the males were the president and provost of the university where the female was a student. Umm, pretty certain there are rules against that.
July 13, 2024
what century do we live in?
I get the female liking to be dominated but when assaulted physically. Why is the remainder of the book about how she forgives her assailant? Spanking an adult who does not consent is criminal assault.
Authors, do better. If an assault happens at least have the female victim get justice. Not just hurt their feelings or frustrate them sexually. But the female able to physically assault them. Or a proxy return the favor. Then the male “learns better” after that.
I get the female liking to be dominated but when assaulted physically. Why is the remainder of the book about how she forgives her assailant? Spanking an adult who does not consent is criminal assault.
Authors, do better. If an assault happens at least have the female victim get justice. Not just hurt their feelings or frustrate them sexually. But the female able to physically assault them. Or a proxy return the favor. Then the male “learns better” after that.
August 30, 2024
Hated this! The Male leads acted like little children who wanted to sleep with everything in their way. The abused the FML and basically kidnapped her because one of the got sick when she was on the way to the other side of the country that they made! They were selfish and massive assholes.
DNF this at maybe 50%
I thought this book was about insta love and that they were going’s to do everything to keep her and love her. But this was the complete opposite of that🤢😤🤬
DNF this at maybe 50%
I thought this book was about insta love and that they were going’s to do everything to keep her and love her. But this was the complete opposite of that🤢😤🤬
March 4, 2024
I think the author was attempting to write dubcon but they failed miserably to the point that it reads more like thinly veiled sexual violence. The age gaps and dynamics in the other relationship pairings were weird as well. One of the prominent side characters was raised by the man she is now sleeping with so if stuff like that is not your cup of tea then stay away from this one.
June 10, 2024
SERIOUS TRIGGER WARNINGS
Rape and torture porn. The whole book.
The guys beat her, ignore her, insult her, and force themselves in and on her while she's screaming for them to stop and telling them no. The. Whole. Book.
If you have ANY trauma in these areas, don't read this book.
I like spicy, but this was grotesque.
Otherwise, the story was great.
Rape and torture porn. The whole book.
The guys beat her, ignore her, insult her, and force themselves in and on her while she's screaming for them to stop and telling them no. The. Whole. Book.
If you have ANY trauma in these areas, don't read this book.
I like spicy, but this was grotesque.
Otherwise, the story was great.
July 14, 2024
DNF I kept trying but the book gave me the ick! Hs are school admins and apparently they’re being pushed around by h, who’s the head of a bunch of clubs so they’re calling her “the politician”. That kept throwing me off so I couldn’t drop into the universe.
June 28, 2024
spice: 4/5
storytelling: 2.5/5
Even though this is a longer book, it was a pretty quick and easy read. Let's talk about what did and didn't work for me:
Pros:
- I love the way the authors wrote the sex scenes. They were very steamy and the perfect amount of descriptive.
- Overall, the authors crafted a pretty well thought out story. I was not just smut with no plot and I actually enjoyed seeing the different types of Supernatural beings interact.
- While the Fated Mates trope is pretty common, they were able to put a twist on the genre by making it a "Changed Fate" Mate pairing (which I haven't seen before)
- The set up a sequel for the sister pretty nicely (and the witch), though I'm not sure if that is what the 2nd book is about.
Cons (SPOILERS):
- THE AGE OF THE FMC (Kaci). I don't really have a problem with age-gaps especially in supernatural romances, but that being said I feel like Kaci was unnecessarily young. I get her being college-aged for the plot, but she could have easily been 21 or 22, and the story would not have changed. Her being 19 felt unnecessary, especially put next to the obvious power imbalance between her and the 2 male leads. Her having a little more experience would have felt less...icky? This particularly stood out to me in the beginning of the book when they tried to blackmail and ship her across the country, and she had absolutely no power or say to do anything.
- The change in attitude of the two male leads (Caelum and Ry) towards Kaci felt like whiplash. One minute they are hellbent on figuring out how to get rid of her, and the next they are rushing to claim her. Even with the change in circumstances / urgency with her being kidnapped by the rouge pack, I think they could have claimed her out of necessity and then spent time exploring how even though they were kind of forced into it, they develop feelings and genuine care for Kaci. They claimed her, and that basically felt like it in terms of emotional evolution. I would have rather there be an insta-love type component to completing the bond to explain the progression of their relationship, rather than just "we want to accept you now", which is what it felt like.
- The resolution to the conflict felt a little easy, especially in regards to her escaping from being kidnapped. The "final battle" was a little more well laid out, but they won largely because Juana's magic stopped working on Kaci for some unexplained reason, so another easy out (and I know its probably because of her lineage, but it suddenly stopped working with no effort on Kaci's part, and no real explanation after the fact -- I feel like Juana, a centuries old terrifying witch would have been better equipped).
- Overall, I think a couple more chapters after the fight would have served the book well. I wanted to see more of Kaci learning to tame her wolf, Ry and Caelum getting to know Kaci better, and see how the characters interacted in a post-claiming, post-rogue pack world.
storytelling: 2.5/5
Even though this is a longer book, it was a pretty quick and easy read. Let's talk about what did and didn't work for me:
Pros:
- I love the way the authors wrote the sex scenes. They were very steamy and the perfect amount of descriptive.
- Overall, the authors crafted a pretty well thought out story. I was not just smut with no plot and I actually enjoyed seeing the different types of Supernatural beings interact.
- While the Fated Mates trope is pretty common, they were able to put a twist on the genre by making it a "Changed Fate" Mate pairing (which I haven't seen before)
- The set up a sequel for the sister pretty nicely (and the witch), though I'm not sure if that is what the 2nd book is about.
Cons (SPOILERS):
- THE AGE OF THE FMC (Kaci). I don't really have a problem with age-gaps especially in supernatural romances, but that being said I feel like Kaci was unnecessarily young. I get her being college-aged for the plot, but she could have easily been 21 or 22, and the story would not have changed. Her being 19 felt unnecessary, especially put next to the obvious power imbalance between her and the 2 male leads. Her having a little more experience would have felt less...icky? This particularly stood out to me in the beginning of the book when they tried to blackmail and ship her across the country, and she had absolutely no power or say to do anything.
- The change in attitude of the two male leads (Caelum and Ry) towards Kaci felt like whiplash. One minute they are hellbent on figuring out how to get rid of her, and the next they are rushing to claim her. Even with the change in circumstances / urgency with her being kidnapped by the rouge pack, I think they could have claimed her out of necessity and then spent time exploring how even though they were kind of forced into it, they develop feelings and genuine care for Kaci. They claimed her, and that basically felt like it in terms of emotional evolution. I would have rather there be an insta-love type component to completing the bond to explain the progression of their relationship, rather than just "we want to accept you now", which is what it felt like.
- The resolution to the conflict felt a little easy, especially in regards to her escaping from being kidnapped. The "final battle" was a little more well laid out, but they won largely because Juana's magic stopped working on Kaci for some unexplained reason, so another easy out (and I know its probably because of her lineage, but it suddenly stopped working with no effort on Kaci's part, and no real explanation after the fact -- I feel like Juana, a centuries old terrifying witch would have been better equipped).
- Overall, I think a couple more chapters after the fight would have served the book well. I wanted to see more of Kaci learning to tame her wolf, Ry and Caelum getting to know Kaci better, and see how the characters interacted in a post-claiming, post-rogue pack world.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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