Reapers

The Druid Series #1

by Marata Eros

Alternative cover edition ASIN B00FPXBJZM

The vampires are a dying race, their females sterile. When it's discovered that human females of Druid ancestry can be viable breeders... the harvest begins.

Rachel Collins is a young woman living in the frozen north of Alaska in a dead-end job with a circular life. She yearns for something more.

When murders begin taking place in the city where she lives, she and her girlfriend try to be more cautious, only to be caught in the middle of a dangerous situation in which an unlikely savior emerges.

Can Rachel escape her destiny while two different factions hunt her?

Genres: Vampires, Paranormal, Erotica, Paranormal Romance, Romance, Adult, Ebooks

133 pages, ebook

First published September 9, 2011

About the author

NEW RELEASE ALERT: bit.ly/MarataNEWS

Marata Eros is the author of over ninety-five titles, including her NEW YORK TIMES bestselling novel, A TERRIBLE LOVE, and the #1 international bestselling erotic Interracial and African-American TOKEN serial. Marata writes a variety of dark fiction in the genres of erotica, fantasy, romance, suspense and sci-fi. She and her husband live in the midwest with their four sons and three disrespectful dogs. Marata's #1 hobby is reading; she loves interacting with her readers.

http://marataeroseroticaauthor.blogsp...
Tamara Rose Blodgett's Blog: http://tamararoseblodgett.blogspot.com/

FUTURE TITLES 2018:

TRAINER (Road Kill MC)
VIPER (Road Kill MC)
IN BROKEN LOVE
DRUID #11
SIREN #4
THE FIRST SPECIES

Reviews

[karen]

MOAR MONSTERPORN! HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

fair warning - this is a book of monsterporn that i read for my seeecet monsterporn reading group. because the stories are so short, i tend to give the whole plot away in these reviews. if you are one of those people who read your porn for plot, you might want to avoid this review. if you are like me and monsterporns make you giggle and you like poking gentle, well-intentioned fun at them, please do continue reading.

the takeaway from this book is that all vampires are rapists. and also all men. at least in alaska.

there is not one male character in this book who does not at some point try to rape our heroine or her best friend. does anyone else find this alarming? i certainly do, since my dad was very gung ho about moving us all to alaska when i was eleven or so. i feel like i dodged a bullet there.

statistically speaking, fewer rapes and other violent crimes happen in cold climates. warm weather tends to increase aggression, and in the cold, people are generally less willing to expose their genitals to the elements. except for hipsters on no pants day. hipsters, as you know, are too cool to contribute to polls about the effects of climate on violent impulses.

but so anyway - despite the research done in this field, in this particular part of alaska, every single man seems to be a rapist. if you find this is true of your town, ladies, might i suggest moving away from that town and letting the rapists rape each other and see how they like it?

a recent wave of rape-homicides in this town has been very specific:

Men were killed and drained dry of their blood and if there were women with them, they were raped.

But none of the women could remember the attack or their attacker.

despite this crime wave, besties rachel and michelle decide to go out for a night on the town to relax after the long work week. they are both hot, but only michelle is super-slutty. we are told this repeatedly. rachel admires michelle's sexual freedom, but rachel herself is holding out for mr. right:

It's not that I'd never had sex. Casual just wasn't a main entree.

but she is certainly willing to wear the uniform of a whore, to tip my allusive hat to dave chappelle. and while i would never be the person who said a woman was asking for it by dressing a certain way, i do worry about ladies in alaska who wear so little clothing and go wandering out into the night in the snow.

again - i have seen many a chapped ass on no-pants day, and that is practically tropical compared to alaska, where according to rachel: I fumbled with my keys, finally yanking my glove off with my teeth, groaning as the cold air assaulted my fingertips, making them instantly numb.

instantly numb. this is neither a lovely day for a rape nor thigh-high revealing miniskirts.

but nothing will stop these girls from their good time. while they are sitting at the bar, they discuss the rumor mill gossip about a guy at their work who has supposedly date raped a girl; a guy who has already creeped rachel out earlier that evening with an attempted underground parking garage seduction.

where this line occurred:

It was Erik, a guy from work. My shoulders slumped in relief. He scared the shit out of me.

i do not think that rachel knows what the word "relief" means. but no worries, because she managed to evade erik and is now dancing at the club with some guy after slutty michelle pranced off with some other guy.

and remember this assertion?

It's not that I'd never had sex. Casual just wasn't a main entree.

says the girl letting a stranger kiss her neck before leaving the club hand-in-hand with him "to look for rachel" before she even knows his name. his name is matt. he is going to try to rape her. because he is a man.

quick pass over what happens next: they find michelle in a car getting raped by two men, rachel turns "to go find help" but is stopped by erik, who throws her in the same car to rape her, but before he can, a big dude intercedes, beats up the three men, another man suddenly appears, and then the two non-rapists start drinking the blood of the rapists. yay, justice!

but no.

because vampires are also assholes, and although they don't actually sexually assault the girls, their behavior is exactly that of sexual predators: not letting the girls leave, showing their physical dominance, making threats, turning away those who would come to their rescue with mind control, and scrubbing michelle's mind and leaving her a slackjawed mess (more about this mind scrub later)

the vampires can tell that rachel is different. she cannot be mind scrubbed, and they can smell her specialness. one of the vampires, cole, marks her on the forehead "for later" and eventually allows them to leave when they hear the police sirens and realize they should probably hide the bodies. even though plenty of similar bodies have been found, so why the concern, but leave it.

but that forehead-mark is going to be a problem, because apparently humans can smell the pheromones of vampires on a lady and it makes them all riled up and horny, because their subconscious biological imperative is to impregnate the human woman before the vampire can. this is my understanding of the word biology, not the one in this book, which seems to mean "arousal:

My fear was in my throat but my biology was never touched by it.

but! so, the girls go to the police station to make a report and michelle gets her rape kit done (because apparently the mind scrub was just to forget the vampires? and not the rape? which seems a little selfish of the vampires, but whatever.) but then - vampire pheromones do their thing! and the police officer taking rachel's statement begins to get a little suggestive and handsy with rachel, and then begins fingering michelle where she is passed out on the bed. but then yay vampires to rescue. sort of. they leave michelle to be raped. yes - rachel leaves michelle mid-rape. those of you keeping score, yes rachel runs away (twice) from michelle being raped (twice). but it's okay because michelle is very promiscuous. and because the vampires mind-scrub her again. so it's like it never happened! who needs roofies when you have vampires?

so rachel gets taken to some vampire enclave, where she is held prisoner and told that she has druid blood, is in fact a purebred druid - very rare - which means she is able to breed with a vampire. this is vital to the vampire clan, since vampire females are notoriously sterile, but can, in fact, be bred to male druids. and yet not a single vampire baby or child is depicted in this book. just adults and some pregnant druids.

more fun facts about vampires in this world:

they can sweat
they can get erections
they have reflections
they have voices either like velvet gravel or spoken velvet

more on the confusing mythology of vampires in this world later.

so rachel manages to call michelle on her faltering cellphone to tell her what has happened:

I've been taken by the freak-vampires and am trying to figure out an escape plan.

to which michelle replies

Well… I am doing cat-sitting right now. Do you know where you're at? Are you okay?

soooo the mention of vampires does not faze her, meaning… that the mind scrub didn't make her forget the vampires after all? or the rape that led to the dead bodies of the rapists the police found? but it did let her forget the rape by the police officer, so i guess that's one silver lining. and then she says that the cops have been crawling all over your apartment looking for you. which - if i might make a suggestion? maybe the cops should be out there preventing all those rapes instead of looking for a 28 year old woman who has been "missing" less than a day. why are they looking for her? who reported her missing? as far as michelle knows, she was at the police station with her during the rape kit, right? and then - memory scrub! but so cops in this town take missing (for a few hours) persons cases very seriously and can just bust into your apartment and, as we later learn, put police tape all over your door as if your place is a crime scene instead of focusing on violent crimes? how do police work in this world?

soooo anyway - rachel is imprisoned, and then cole and nathan, the two vampires from the attack(s) come in her room and cole states: I will taste you now, Witch. And you will let me. and he does. and she does. and everyone gets aroused by the smell of blood, but cole has principles!

I cannot, it is akin to rape. She is in blood-langour. She would have sex with any one of us. And," Cole said, stroking the flat of his palm over one of my nipples until it hardened," Alexander would find what vampire would be the most fertile with her."

but apparently, while having sex with her would be unethical, it is still totally permissible for them both to nipple, finger, and provide oral sex to someone in "blood-langour." because that's not rape. and let's pause for a moment.oral sex. with a vampire. ow.

and then she gets taken to this big banquet hall, where she is going to be paired up with one or more vampires for breeding purposes.

They circled me. One came from behind and another came forward pinning my arms to my side and crushing his lips to mine. "Submit, Druid," he said, his hand going right for my crotch. I squirmed against steel bands and struggled, hardly able to breathe. They weren't doing anything, they were no better than the men Cole had saved me from.

"She has such spirit, look at how she tries to fight." He tore at my panties and began to dig his way inside me and I threw my head forward into his and he stumbled back, his hand retreating while I was bodily picked up by the vampire behind me, swung around and pressed to the floor. My head was ringing and the vampire I'd hit was coming toward me again to join in some kind of gang-rape.

fortunately, she is saved (third time) by cole, who believes that the druids should choose their mate, and mate for love, despite how few of them there are left and the vampires are dying out. because again - in this messed up mythology world, vampire babies are a thing, as opposed to every single other vampire mythology in the world where vampires make more vampires by that whole blood-exchange and fang thing.

so cole stops the gang rape, but allows the leader, alexander, (because vampires have strange and antiquated ways of speaking, but surprisingly contemporary names) to "check her fertility" by "plung(ing) a finger inside me, moving it back and forth." and then tries to rape her. of course. but cole stops that, because remember: unwanted fingering is okay, but he draws the line at penile insertion. vamp's gotta have a code.

and then they eat.

The community supper had been awkward as hell and I had suffered through it while taking furtive glances at the five that were going to gang rape me in front of everyone.

yes. that is certainly awkward. oh, sorry, awkward as hell. that makes it less of an understatement.

okay, so then rachel is freed by a jealous female vampire who has observed the shine cole has taken to rachel, and she wants cole for herself. because she is of mixed blood, and might be able to breed, unlike so many of the female vampires. so she turns rachel loose, but it's a trap because the rogue vampires find her! (more about the rogue later, but shorthand it to say that they are the ones who have been raping and killing. not the "good" vampires like cole)

and what do you think the rogue want to do to rachel?

"Not so brave now, Breeder, with my hand feeding on your tit," and for emphasis he squeezed it just on the good side of pain and I whimpered. He smiled as his other hand went for my crotch.

poor rachel has had her crotch grabbed by like 10 different people at this point.

but! cole and nathan to the rescue (rescue number 5), and a vampire fight commences, and after the rogue have been defeated, cole says goodbye forever to nathan and their enclave, and leaves with rachel. because of the lurve and feels and all.

he takes her back to her place (where they discover the crime scene tape) to assemble your belongings to take with us. because while he might not care about her consent, he really wants to make sure she has her toothbrush. kindly vamp. thoughtful vamp.

and after he breaks into her place for her, it is time for romance:

"I will have you now."

but they don't. he takes off her clothes and heals her wounds and then oh no! that creepy (alleged) date-rape guy from the parking garage enters with a rogue and shoots cole with a bunch of tranquilizer darts and then says of rachel "I want to fuck her bad." and the rogue vampire says "You should have killed me when you had the chance, Reaper. Know this…she will be mine within the week."

really? so you go to all the trouble of getting this purebred druid woman to mate with and then you're just gonna wait a few days before sealing the deal? even though the survival of your species depends on it? nothing like a little caution, i suppose. the long pause before the kill always works out well for villains. and why does non-vampire erik think he has a shot intercoursing with rachel?

and then erik makes with the exposition. to rachel: "You're so stupid. The rogue used me for months to spy on you. They were just waiting for the perfect opportunity to take you from underneath their noses," he said, gesturing with the gun at Cole.

okay wait. she has been with the vampires for like a day, a day and a half tops, so that makes no sense. and erik has been spying on her for months and no one was able to grab this girl before that? these are the worst vampires ever.

and then it ends cliffhanger-style while cole is incapacitated by the tranquilizers and rachel is sped off into the night in a car.

here are some annoyances i had with this book

there is this weird internal monologue cadence-tic of one-word sarcasm-responses that litter the story making rachel come across like a sullen teenager:

-I had just about been raped by a police officer for shit's sake and here I was: ready-to-hump a stranger that wasn't even human. I started shaking from shock and cold.

Perfect.

and

-God, the breast-feeding must be hell, I shuddered. Yuk.

She saw my face and asked, "What?"

"I was thinking about feeding the baby…?" I let that loaded question hover like a pink elephant in the room and Eve laughed.

"The vampire infants have retractable fangs, my dear."

Wonderful.

(it amuses me that she is worried about what the pain of breastfeeding a vamp would be when, in four pages, she is going to experience vampire oral)

-They stared at each other for a swollen moment. My heart was in my throat. Here were a couple of vampires, casually discussing who would have sex with me first. Like I was a commodity.

Swell.

and

-"Who has bled her?" the leader asked, a huge signet type ring glinting on his middle finger; a swollen ruby that reflected their precious blood.

His hand covered his nose and he breathed out of his mouth, as did the others.

Wasn't this special?

-Great.

I was locked in a house with a bunch of gang-rapists whose primary goal was to get me pregnant.
Every girl's dream.

and again and again. i understand using humor as a defense mechanism, but this "golly gee whiz" attitude seems a little out of place for someone in her situation.

and the vampire mythology is a mess, particularly when it comes to the rogue vampires.

"Doesn't look like you're keeping things under wraps too well. Judging by the psychos that are running around raping and bleeding out everyone of late." I folded my arms across my chest, going for nonchalant know-it-all.

His eyes bored into mine. "Those are rogue Vampire. We were trailing them when we came upon you and the human female."

so rogue = bad.

but

I could not stand by and watch her being mauled. She needs more time. That is one thing the rogue believe: that she should have a choice.

wait, the rogue? the ones raping and killing? the "bad guys?" the ones who tried to kidnap rachel twice, after all the crotch-grabbing?? where's the choice there?

and cole and nathan are reapers who "harvest" the world, looking for druids and bringing them back to be mass-mated with vampires? i'm so confused about whose side i am supposed to be on here.

because later, eve - a kindly pregnant-by-vampires druid lady in the enclave tells rachel that the rogues ...did not believe that Druids should be shared, they wished not to follow the "old ways." But, Eve warned, they also took Druids, and mated with them…and forced them to stay with them.

sooo, exactly what the vampires do, right? i'm not understanding the distinction here at all. and how sharing druids is any less distasteful than kidnapping and imprisoning them for breeding. and where that belief in "choice" went.

and what does this mean?

the rogues …killed whatever vampires that stood in their way. Vampire scouts like Cole and Nathan would be killed on sight and a small battle would ensue to ascertain their success.

wait, so a battle ensues after the scouts have been killed? with their corpses? and "ascertain?" how did that word get into that sentence? a rogue, indeed…

i do not understand this story at all.

and the character motivation.

so, okay. bodies of men have been piling up around town, drained of blood, along with living women, raped and with no memory of the attackers. so in the first scene, where cole and nathan come in and save michelle and rachel from their rapists by killing them and drinking their blood, you would think "oh, so that's what's been going on. that's wonderful! vigilante vampires who go around killing rapists and rescuing the girls and clearing their minds from the trauma. what an elegant and cost-effective solution to crime-fighting!" but it's not that. the vampires claim that the rogues are the ones raping the women and killing the men, even though vampires can only mate with druids. so why leave the women alive, at all, and why attack couples in the first place? why not just go after women on their own and take care of both needs at once? and why do cole and nathan intervene and prevent rachel's (if not michelle's) rape? they didn't know at the time that rachel was "special," and cole and nathan are reapers who are supposed to go out and scout for druids upon whom to breed, not get involved in human affairs for the sake of do-goodery. what is going on in this world????

again - i am probably overthinking things. what did i learn from all of this? i do not enjoy rape porn. or poorly-handled world-building.

[Christine Wallflower & Dark Romance Junkie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well I'm not sure what just happened...



I mean I get this was a PNR, but this was straight up crazy!



There's this woman, her name's Rachel, she almost gets raped one night but this vampire called Cole saves her.



But then shit gets really weird because he wants to rape her too. Oh wait so does everyone else in this freaking town they live in!



What follows are a series of disturbing incidents. She is fondled, probed and abused by humans and vampires. I'm actually still trying to figure out how I feel about this novella, because lets be honest. This book is about rape with maybe a dash of erotica.

[Emma Sea · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have no idea how I came to own this, and I have no idea how I managed to finish it. One of the worst pieces of utter drek I've ever had the misfortune to encounter (unless the author is ESL, in which case, great job learning English relatively well, please stop writing erotica).

EDIT: It's not drek because it's about rape: I'm a big noncon fan. It's drek because it's poorly plotted, shoddily constructed, the dialogue is appalling, the characters are thoroughly unlikeable and yet have no discernable personality, there is no chemistry between the MCs (other than we get told the MCs are drawn to each other), the world building is minimal and illogical, the author uses technically correct words but ones that have a subtle shade of meaning that make them unusual for the context, and that pulls you out of the story e.g. "stymie" a nose bleed, and the MC constantly talks about her throbbing, moistened, "core".

The writing is hanging onto coherence by the skin of its teeth sometimes:

"I grabbed my vanilla body spray and squirted a last dab."

Your spray squirted a dab?

“That should be illegal!” I nearly screamed.

Did you say nothing, or did you say it quieter?

There's some excerpts of other works following the main story (see, I really read the whole thing!). One of them has this lovely scene about a college English Professor:

"Today, she'd elected not to wear panties. There was nowhere for the moisture of her arousal to go and it made her thighs slick as she moved back and forth in front of the white board. In front of their hot gazes, she prowled in front of them, untamed and hot, ready for anything...."

OK, so clearly there is somewhere for "the moisture of her arousal" to go, and that's down her thighs. That's the same author. If you read that and think, "Hmm, yummy" then I can suggest you might also enjoy Reapers.

[Vika aka ♔ of GIF & Grumpy Smut-ateer *P/T Freebie Fairy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am getting impressed more and more with these short stories lately. This is a paranormal breed of "True Blood" with plenty WTF/CRINGE moments. Author warns and it touches upon many sensitive subjects that may not be for everyone... such as rape, it is not violent but it is definitely not consensual... and that happens A LOT here... if you can stomach that great, but if not please don't pick it up.

Rachel is just an ordinary 9-5 girl who goes out Friday night to a night-club with her slutty bff. Her bff picks up a guy and ends up leaving her with her "date's" friend. In a very stupid move she goes looking for her friend with a stranger into basically an abandoned area... she discovers her friend getting raped by 2 dudes. As the "helpful" stranger ripping her clothes off while trying to rape her, a handsome dark haired stranger, Cole, appears and pries him off her and then proceeds to drain him of his blood.



Are the girls saved? NOPE... apparently Rachel if a very unique brand of human that is sought after by the vamps. She is basically a breeder... and she is taken to the vamp colony to become a sow and mate with multiple vamps and produce their children. Even worse she is REALLY special as she is a PURE BLOODED Druid, therefore breeding outcomes are endless (it's like playing Punnett square)... jeez the girl just can't catch a break.



Lucky for her she managed to entice Cole like no other. Cole is the only one who is not an option for her to breed with as he is not one to share and he sure lets everyone know that. But rules are rules and Cole can't have her. Rachel decides to escape the compound and her breeding fate... and runs straight into more trouble with Rogue Vampires who want her for the same purpose. The one who comes to bail her out is Cole... Cole who will lay his life down for her now just to have her and she is willing to give herself to him.

“She is a gem,” his eyes flicked to Cole's. “Take care of her. She may be our future.”
Cole replied, “She is. My future.”

Can they run to their HEA dodging the Reapers leader and rogue vampires who want Rachel... who knows! but the ending is fucked up and I need to know what happens next..

[Dani · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love a good erotic story, especially a vampire story. The kindle was free so I jumped at the opportunity to check out a sexy new series. Wow, was I disappointed. The entire book is about rape or avoiding rape. The vampires are weird kidnapping rapists. I felt nothing for any of the characters except pity for the raped friend. There were not any likable characters at all. Then the book ends, hoping that you'll be racing to buy book two to find out what happens next. Too bad I didn't care. I assume she'll be raped, or narrowly avoid being raped yet again, just to almost be raped at a later time. There is a definite trend .... At least I didn't waste money on it.

[Stacia (the 2010 club)]

Rapey. Rapey. Rapey. And a little more rapey - as in "up for a gang bang?" rapey.

...and not in the implied McGangBang kind of paranormal romance novel writing via Kresley Cole uncomfortable rapey vibes but not actually rape (off topic, but my teenager is obsessed with these sandwiches for some reason).


Uh...no. It was rape. And more rape. And then some attempted rape.

The most bizarre thing is though, the story was strangely readable in a "train wreck I couldn't look away from" type of deal.

But yeah. I'm not even gonna rate the story because I don't even know what to say. I went into this as a group read, having been warned that there was non-con, so I can't really go off on a mad tangent if I knew what I was getting into.

The scene with the vampires shrugging off what the sheriff was doing really bothered me, yet there I was a few chapters later thinking that Cole was probably the lesser of all the evils in the book and accepted that he was going to just go ahead and insta-love-bond his way into Rachel's heart...err pants anyway, whether I liked it or not.

Strangely enough, I thought Cole was almost too humanized. This society is down with the gang rape (and the book uses the term several times). So why was Cole almost sort of being pushed as a protector type with no real character development morphing him from bad to good?

The wtf-ery of not sticking to a "good or bad" ethics system was where the ball was dropped, imo. I say go one way or the other and commit to it. Either be taboo or be romantic. The mashup of cold and warm was a bit odd.

I didn't like that I had to be told by other people reading the book that the content was rapey. As of Feb. 12, 2014 (this may have changed by the time someone reads my review in the future) I see that on Booklikes the warning is in place, but GR still doesn't have one (and I could be wrong, I'm thinking that this is the book another person complained about not having a disclaimer quite some time ago). I'm sure a librarian could add one, but the author should probably make the request in order to ensure that the warning is to her specifications.

I wasn't a fan of how the friend was tossed off with no concern. That was a crappy moment which wasn't necessary to the plot in order to show Rachel's individual situation as a breeder.

But I won't deny the strange readability. Because yeah. I was unexpectedly curious to see what would happen next. The story was creepy and weird but it had me turning the pages. Take what you will from that.

If I read parts 2 and 3, I probably won't review, so this is all I'm gonna throw out there. I figure there's probably a market for the story, even with the mixed signals. Fans of mate-bonding and super-protective (she's mine!) male types might well enjoy the read if they can get past the graphic rape scenes upfront. Read on at your own risk. O.o

*edit* I said I wasn't going to review parts 2 or 3, and I won't add those editions on (I probably should have gone with the 3 volume omnibus edition to start), but I will put a couple of quick notes here.

Part 2 thoughts - While I chose not to rate part 1 because it was odd and I didn't know what to think, I do feel that at least part 2 tried to add in some plot and reason that Part 1 was missing. This was a marked improvement over part 1 and actually somewhat entertaining.

Part 3 thoughts - The rapey raperson vibe is back, but this time it's in a dream sequence, making it more of a fantasy fetish thing. I was sort of put off at first, until the reveal happened, then I had a well hmm...that could come in handy - you get to hook up with a bunch of guys and have no guilt or consequences for it. Not too bad, actually...

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is about RAPE! There are no redeaming qualities about any of it. The only reason I gave it 1 star is because you can't write a review without rating it. My actual rating is MINUS 5 STARS. I really regret not reading reviews before I started to read this. After the first DISGUSTING rape scene I thought I'd try to read on to see if the female lead gets any revenge but Nooooooooo. It just keeps happening over and over and over. I have read plenty of books containing sex and erotica and I get the need for a rape scene to elicit an emotional response out of the reader. Those books tend to have an ending where the bad guy is punished and everyone is happy. This is not the case in this book. I will NOT read anything else by this author. EVER! I will warn all of my friends NEVER to read anything by this person. I highly doubt this person is a woman. Eros my ass!!!!! There is NOTHING cool about rape! I hate books that are labeled as romance and turn out to be nothing about romance at all. THERE SHOULD BE A HUGE WARNING ON THIS BOOK ABOUT THE SEXIST AND VIOLENT CONTENT. SHAME on anyone who thinks that rape is entertaining in any way!!!!

[Karma♥Bites ^.~ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely instances of rape in this book, but oddly enough, I didn't even think about REAPERS as being "rape erotica" or "rape fantasy" when I was reading it. As played out in the book, I saw the first rape more as a plot device (damsels in distress; cue male lead(s) to come to the rescue)—an anti-meet cute, if you will. (The second rape "under thrall" was completely gratuitous.) And as another reviewer already pointed out, the actual rape scenes were relatively brief and fairly light. (The first rape? I wouldn't have thought so if not expressly stated in the book.) Can't recall the title right now, but I've read a more brutal/explicit scene in a mystery/thriller by a mainstream author.

Having said that, I got REAPERS from my Secret Book Claus(e) on Oct 13th. My eyebrows rose at the book's description on Amazon.com but trooper that I am, I stayed in the spirit of the giving and read this in one sitting. However, this novelette is only for those readers who are not put off by non-PC subject matters (such as rape/attempted rape).

Surprisingly, this little slice of a story wasn't too bad. I can't comment on its creative arc because it was simply too short for any significant (or substantive) plot development, but the writing wasn't horrendous and showed some talent. Unfortunately, it was marred by odd paragraph structuring and numerous errors in basic grammar/punctuation, word usage and malapropisms. (And there was my personal pet peeve of blank lines in between paragraphs = useless space filler and Kindle abuse.) And if the author was trying for dark... well, sorry but this was fluff for me--in the increasingly bad NA-ish way, at that.

Despite my enjoyment of the story, my inner smut will have to sulk because I will not buy the remaining segments of the Druid Breeders. Part 1 was a nice tease but not enough for me to bite, for the following reasons:

(1) I generally dislike serials. Unless it's a comic book, I prefer to start a story and read straight to the end. As I mentioned in a different review, reading any part of a serial is the equivalent of reading a ripped-out section of a paperback. Why bother to even start if you don't have or won't read the rest? Doesn't matter that this serial appears to be finished so that I don't need to wait for the remaining sections.

(2) Given the number of technical errors and plot inconsistencies in Part 1, I can only wonder how many more there would be in the other 6 segments (but pretty sure that it'll exceed my limit--and patience).

(3) The kicker? Total cost for the entire story is $21 [$8 for Vol 1 (Parts 1-3 @ 206pgs, tho GR listing=155pgs), $9 for Vol 2 (Parts 4-6 @ 230 pgs), and $4 for Part 7 (@ 116pgs)]. Seriously? Um, I don't think so.

I have another reason for not continuing on with this series but it's not directly relevant to the book so I have made it into a comment.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this sexy short story. This is the first book in what promises to be an exciting series. The "Reaper's" are vampires who are sent out to search for the "Druid Breeders", and bring them back to their fellow vampires to create the children they need to continue their race. The Druid Breeders are women who have the Druid blood type that gives them the ability to reproduce for the vampires. These woman are very hard to find, and even rarer are the Druids who are full blooded; born of two parents who were both Druid's as well.
Rachel and her friend Michelle go out one night and end up in a situation that becomes gruesome very quickly. Unfortunately, Rachel is being hunted by two different group of vampires who want her exremely bad. She won't go down easy, but in the end is one of the vampires really her enemy, or is he someone Rachel could come to depend on?
This story may be short but there isn't a dull moment in it. The fight scenes between the two sets of vampires were very descriptive and full of action. The sex scenes are not for the faint of heart and there are some scenes where there is non consenual sex. If this is something that would be disturbing to you, then I don't recommend this book for you. IF it is something you can overlook, then for a quick read, I certainly say this book is worth the time to read it.
The ending leaves off at a spot where I for sure want to know what happens next. I have to say that I am team Cole all of the way, and I hope that Rachel will give him a chance. He is one vampire I wouldn't mind meeting in a dark alley!

[MrsJoseph *grouchy* · Rating 1 out of 5]

Updated (again) 2/24/14 (see bottom of review)

Updated 10/14/12 (below)

This shit is horrible. And horrific.

Who the fuck wants to read a "romance" which is 100% about rape or avoiding being raped?????????

The opening scenes in the book? A very graphic rape.

WTF.

And I'll say it again: WTF!

Of course I didn't finish this.


DNF.


______________

I'm amending my review. To a point. The way I feel about this book has not and will not change - but I do want to make a point.

The way I feel is the way I feel. Rape and violence against women are triggers for me and I take pains to avoid them. I do not have an issue with other people's kinks or personal lack of a trigger. Quite a few of my friends read and enjoy non-con books.

My major issue is that I always avoid non-con books. How do I avoid them? The authors label their books in very clear and impossible to miss ways. Always. It's either in the blurb of the book itself (see The Milk Bitch Trilogy or Comfort Food) or labeled with a warning prior to the start of the blurb.

There was no warning in this case. I know that the author says there is a warning (on her Amazon book page) now. There was no warning there when I originally got this book. The author says that there is a warning in the book itself. I re-downloaded the book after being told this as if a warning was there I planned to amend my review. The newly downloaded book contained no warning. So my review and rating stands.

-----

Updated 2/24/14

I put a warning on this book in 2012 when I read this book. That warning has been removed.

So I decided to re-post my review (which I previously deleted).

It seems that the author has republished the same book but removed the warning. So I truly hope my review helps someone to avoid being traumatized.

[Sammy Loves Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is the 1st part of a trilogy. I intend to only write one review…Here is the link to that review

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

3 Stars for a Wicked Evil introduction full of Abduction, No-Con Vampire Seduction, and Bloody Murder!!!

[Laura Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Thoughts
So this was a freebie on amazon and I decided to pick it up and read it. I was a little wary since the stars were low, but I’m glad I never care about the star ranking. In the end I loved the story beside yelling at their cavemen thoughts. “You women, you stay here.” Yeah if I yell at a book it means I like it. ;)

The Review
The characters were all different and one seemed to shock me by the end of the story. Who knew he do the some what right thing?
Rachel is thrust into a world that she knows nothing about, left trying to get out of the problem. Of course you’ll understand the cavemen comment from above if you read the book. :3 Back to the review. The story plot and problems changed quickly going from one thing to another, never was there a dull moment.
The bad guys started as one, then there was another. Lots of dark shady problems from the two groups, and there starts your problem of choosing who you hate more. The kidnapping creeps or the rouges.
Love fast paced books, with loads of drama, then this books was made for you.
Would I read the next? Yush! In a heartbeat.

[djdavis~*Sivad* · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this review and others @ The Book Wranglers
SPOILER ALERT!! SPOILER ALERT 3.5 Stars
Okay where to begin?

This story is crazy as hell. I read some reviews before I downloaded this freebie and was determined to read it myself and make my own decision on whether it was a good story or not. I think it's pretty good. But let me first say before I start my review, that I do not agree with RAPE or marginal/forced consent sex, and those that choose to or have read this book without fully researching (reading the synopsis and warnings as well as reading other reviews) the fault is your own.

With that said this HORROR/EROTIC THRILLER definitely sent me for a loop. 28-year-old Rachel and her friend Michelle decide that going out for a night of fun is just what they need to spice up things. Despite the multiple warnings of danger all around (women turning up raped and men being bled dry), they throw caution to the wind and hit the clubs. Michelle has one thing on her mind though, finding some hot guy at the club and taking him home, or to the closest place possible to get laid, while Rachel just wants to take it easy, dance a little and head home. Dolled-up and ripe for the picking, Rachel and Michelle begin dancing the night away until Rachel realizes that her friend has disappeared.

**This is the point when you say WTF**

Rachel decides that the semi attractive guy that she's been dancing with is safe enough to tag along in search of her friend. What she finds is anything short of unbelievable Michelle is being taken advantage of by two guys in a car outside of the club. Unfortunately for Rachel things don't seem to click fast enough and she's thrown into the same car to await to the same fate.
[image error]

Enter the VAMPS:
Just when it seems all hope is lost for her situation she's saved by two huge men, if you can call them that (CAN ANYONE SAY HERO). Of course things can't be as simple as as that. These so called rescuers, Cole and Nathan, proceed to put an end to the rapists and turn their attention to Rachel and Michelle. It dawns on Rachel that maybe she would have been better off with the rapists instead of these killers. Unfortunately, the choice has been made for both Rachel and Michelle, one will stay and be wiped clean (mind erase) and the other will have to go with them.

Cole and Nathan are reapers. They track a special breed of women called Druids; women/witches that can mate and breed a line of vampires, other druids, or half-breeds. It's been over a hundred years since anyone has found a pure blood Druid and now Cole and Nathan have one in their hands, Rachel. As they drag her back to the home base the unexpected happens, something that Cole wasn't prepared for, he's formed an immediate connection with Rachel and knows that bringing her back to his clan won't work well for either of them; he won't let anyone else have her. **NOTE** This is obviously a huge problem for Cole whose part of a clan that believes in sharing their Druid women.

Head strong and determined, Rachel plays her cards carefully and takes advantage of the assistance of a female vampire. Determined to look too closely the offered help, she makes a run for it. Shortly lived though, Rachel stumbles upon the Rogue vampires that will do just about anything to keep her away from Cole and his clan. The Rogue don't believe in sharing their Druids and are very possessive, (just choose your poison) however they still want the same thing... to mate and create more of their race.

At this point Rachel has been man/vamp-handled by so many grappling at a chance to impregnate her it's just sad. Just when she thinks she's out of danger and safe with Cole things quickly turn for the worst. I guess those lose ends weren't wrapped up as well as Cole thought and Rachel is taken, again. There's not much more she can do now that she's in the Rogues' hands. Now we'll have to wait and see.



TO BE CONTINUED...

The Best Thing:
I haven't read an erotic thriller paranormal before (that I can recall or it's been a while) so I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. I really liked that there is a real story line (keeping a race alive) here and not just all things dealing with SEX (taboo or not). While the first 10 to 15 pages definitely pack a triple punch with certain scenes, I wanted to know what was going to happen to Rachel especially after what happened to her poor friend Michelle. The build-up and development of this story was pretty good. I never got bored reading about the REAPERS or Rachel, and found myself really wanting to know more about the rankings within the regular Vampire clan, Rogue clan and the Druids.

I also enjoyed Rachel's fight to stay alive and not give into her new fate. So many times we have to read about weak-minded women in stories where there's a major struggle in the story that threatens the livelihood of the main character/heroine. I thought that her fight-and-flight mentality was definitely needed in order secure the relationship/connection with Cole. (him chasing her and saving her time and time again) Finally we've got a fighter on our hands [image error] even if all the odds are against her. Cole was mysterious and left me wanting to learn more. I immediately became intrigued by him and his strong connection to Rachel, wanting to know why he chose her to be 'the one' cause for breaking away from his clan. What is it about him that makes him so different from the others?


The Worst Thing:
LOVE/HATE- I love and hate how this book ended...ugh @ the cliffhangers.

As stated earlier this book does have rape and marginal consent that takes place throughout the book. I wonder if most of the initial ratings were so low because of the first 15-20 pages had some questionable scenes, because it most definitely created a WOW factor leaving the reader with something to remember. When I read the first incident with Michelle, I was taken aback by the scene and then totally thrown off course when the second incident happened. I immediately thought (WTF) this is over kill, I STILL DO. Although, had this been written differently it probably would have read like every other erotic non-consent paranormal book, and somewhat forgettable.

Another thing that boils my blood about this book/series is the length. While I understand that this is most likely a marketing and money maker tool, I hate that is was short. There are seven or eight books in this series and they're all short as hell. Why can't authors just write a full novel package a complete story with 300 to 400 pages and then write a sequel from there. (PULL MY HAIR OUT)
I can go on and on about this but it's probably not the platform since it doesn't really reflect the quality of the book.

[~ Stephanie Lynn ~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

********* 5 finger-lickin-fangs **********


Before I give my review let me start by saying this first. This book is definitely not for everyone it has a few rape scenes. Now one of them I would not of known that's what it was until it was stated in the book. They are not described in detail. But they are still in the book. But given that I have to say that I could not stop reading this book reminded me so much of Gena Showalter's books Lords of the Underworld. Also the first three books are free in this series in a bundle at the time of this review.

I did enjoy the storyline a woman with a unique, much-desired blood line is sought after by two opposing signs to become a breeder whether she wants to or not. She was a strong character, very sure of her own mind, even while clouded by lust. It becomes a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils- except she doesn't get a choice. It's about survival, and adaptation, and living a life far beyond what she ever dreamed it would be.

Rachel is a round of the mill girl living in Alaska. One night she goes out with her friend and instead of a good time it becomes hell. Her friend who is loose to begin with gets rapped by two guys and Rachel almost met the same end except 2 vampires save her. Unfortunately, she can't escape them because she is a pureblood druid and is consider a breeder. Meaning only druids can have babies with vampires. There is not enough druids to go around one druid can have a minimum of 2 partners.

From the beginning Rachel wanted Cole with her entire soul, but; No one cared what she wanted! Cole did! He came to her rescue every time! In the end they knew they had to get away; so they ran! But can they run far enough from the Rogue Vampires and Alexander the leader of his kind? All of them want Rachel but can Cole keep her safe?

Cole is not wanting to share Rachel he is a vampire scout as you would call it they are the ones who go out and hunt for the purebloods they are the strongest and normally do not mate with the purebloods but he wants Rachel in the worse way. He knows the laws she is so rare that she must take more than on mate. But will he allow her to be with anyone other than himself? And can he protect her from all the others?

I have got to read Part 2!!!! Can not wait!! If your debating reading this, make the time; you will not regret it!! This book ends with you wanting more. Thank goodness I have the next one to continue.

If you can get past the rape and the rest, it's a very good tale. If you cannot handle dark erotica, I don't recommend picking this up, but if you can, go for it. It's a worthy read. HOT Vampires just plain HOT Dark Erotica!

[Ladymcbeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, this was the book of the month of my Monsterporn read...
I'm not into vampire, really not ... except maybe twilight because they are vegan and can go out under the sun !
hum well... this story is the beginning of a serie so I was a bit disappointed at the end of this.
We have to read the next book !

BTW, it could have been worst for me, and even if I'm a huge monsterporn fan, the thing is there wasn't enough sex scene in it for me with vampire to be a good monster porn book.

maybe the next one ?

[Ginette · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars for me, I'm really not sure what I read....but I did read up to bk 3!
The story & characters just felt a bit under developed for me. It had a lot of potential, it just fell short of what I love about a story. This is just my personal opinion

[Carrie (Badass, Alpha-male, Cowboy Connoisseur ) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a quick read but, boy was it HOT!!! Great story line, steamy, edgy and smokin' males. I was pleasantly suprised

[#ReadAllTheBooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes there's rape here. This is ultimately a rape fantasy, which is very much a genre. I can go into the various reasons as to why perfectly normal people write and read this stuff (and no, it's not because they endorse rape or find real rape exciting or titillating), but ultimately I want to stress that most of the crowd of this genre, the vast majority of them, view it as a form of escapism.

That said, I'll openly say that while I'm not a reader of rape erotica, I've read worse and more violent. Encyclopedia Dramatica has provided that for me, free of charge. The sex scenes here are brief and all things considering, fairly light. There's only one forceful rape scene (absolutely no consent or excitement at all on the woman's behalf) that's described in any detail and it's over pretty quickly. There are two more sex scenes, one being only a few sentences long and the other being sort of a rape under the influence where our main character does enjoy it but not because she wants to. Mercifully for me, these scenes are brief and if you really want, you can skip through them in a few pages.

Now as far as the story as a whole goes, there's some interesting ideas here. The idea that vampires can breed with women of Druid descent is novel enough and the idea of various levels of purity being capable of more breeding-wise is decent. There's also a nice level of snarkiness here and despite myself, I found myself giving a snort at Rachel dryly commenting "I was locked in a house with a bunch of gan-rapists whose primary goal was to get me pregnant. Every girl's dream."

Other than the rape scenes, which I'll admit probably affected my rating for the book, there's actually the basis of a good story here and I'm curious to see how it unfolds. I wasn't really 100% drawn into the story, but I am mildly curious to see what ultimately happens to Rachel. It's just that I wasn't as "ZOMG, must read" drawn into it as others might be, but again- I'm going into this with the handicap of rape erotica not being my thing. If you're a reader of this genre, you'll probably like it well enough. I just felt that there was a lot of telling and that at times there was an over usage of names where "she" or "he" would've sufficed. It just felt a little repetitive. There's also a lot of attempts to put a lot of information, scenes, and characters into a short page span, which might have been necessary but also makes the book feel a bit cramped at times.

I wouldn't suggest avoiding this unless you are very much against the idea of rape erotica and this is better than some of the other self-published erotica in general out there. Consensual or not, this at least focuses on actual story progression and didn't read as if it was written one-handed, if you know what I mean. It's just that this actually felt like it was being a bit hampered at times and could've been more. For any potential readers, I again warn that you need to take this review with a grain of salt because I'm not really the target audience this was written for. I just figured that since it was short, free, and the debate of rape erotica is an interesting one, I might as well give it a try.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars Updated review 11/26 (after completing the rest of the books)I think after the first two books I read, it all finally clicked, I got where the author was coming from and totally took the book and story for what it was worth. If you are unable to remove yourself from what is "socially correct" than this book is so not for you. As the author mentions: **This book is intended for an adult audience and contains marginal consent, multiple partners, forced breeding, vampire sex, and oral play.**

[~*~Brooke's Stripped Down Reviews~*~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love vampires...and I love kinky vampires even more! I'm definitely hooked on this series, I'm dying to know what happens. Is it the best vampire story ever? No, probably not...but I still really enjoyed it.

[Sofia Lazaridou · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this one.I don't get the 1 star reviews but I guess some people don't like the vampires or rapes or almost rapes.It was good and I am starting the next two books ASAP.

[A.ster.i · Rating 1 out of 5]

Que cosa más mala me leí, no sé cómo me lo terminé esperando que tuviera un mejor desarrollo PERO NO
Le doy 1 estrella pero merece 0

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmm, what to say, what to say.

Ok, this is a rather weird story and I would find it hard to recommend to anyone due its contents. There were rather graphic rape and molestation scenes throughout which were quite difficult to read. I'm no prude by any means but I find the very blasé attitude by the main protagonist regarding the abuse she sees and endures to be more disturbing that the violent acts themselves. Rachel, the protagonist, seems far too relaxed and accepting in some scenes and I just cannot imagine any real person behaving in such a manner. There is a scene about 3/4 of the way through the story which basically describes a gang-rape, or potential gang-rape, but it's all so clinical and nasty; it really didn't make for comfortable reading. Also, I was always under the assumption vampires wouldn't be able to have sex, or was that just me? Hahaha

However, despite the actual subject matter and the graphic violent scenes, this was a well written story. Unfortunately though the content really isn't for me.

[Deborah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Interesting idea but that's all.



I liked the idea behind this book but it's not normally a book I would read simply because of the cost of the series there's 9 books at the moment I'm not sure if this is all of them or if the series if still continuing, anyway these 9 books cost £15.68 or $23.79 at the moment plus there's a add-on book #7.5 which costs £1.54 or $2.33. So like I said I'd never normally take on a series like this but I've just started my kindle unlimited free trial so I figured it's the perfect opportunity.
I read the reviews before starting and they were mixed to say the least some loved it but a lot commented that the writing was shocking and they were right, it's really bad I struggled to get through this book and I really wanted to like it since I thought the idea was an interesting one but it's not good.
There's not much else to say even the fact that I can read this series for free isn't going to get me to read the next one, I'm so disappointed and that's just the writing I'm avoiding the whole potential gang rape thing.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book one starts with Rachel in a boring job going out with her girlfriend to a club where she's attacked by vampires and humans.
Her friend is raped repeatedly and Rachel is attempted multiple times which at time was excessive I think.
Rachel is what the vampires call a Druid or breeder where she can be mated with multiple vampires to breed with the purer her blood more likely she can have Druid children.
So far all book have finished with a cliffhanger but also a ridiculous amount of potential raping scenes. I know this happens but it's happening on every other page. Hoping Cole mates with her so she isn't attacked constantly and get a some what HEA.

[Ange · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reapers had me hook, line & sinker!!
Yes there are some uncomfortable and confronting scenes, but you're pre-warned, so you deal with it or you don't read it! But you're missing out if you don't!
Marata has an amazing way of introducing you to the characters, so you feel like you know them personally. Her detailed descriptions leave you fanning your self, and reading on and on for more!
I loved Reapers, so much so, I've read the other 4 novellas in the series. They are just a whole lot more of hot & heavy awesomeness!

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh...another freebie on Kindle books...but simple things like we're on are way rather than our way and you are supposed to be a writer, and your editor is supposed to edit, and the mistake remains, can be quite annoying at times, not to mention the book just leaves off with in a "to be continued way" making you have to read the next,nd I hate starting a book and not finishing it (series) whether I like it or not...

[Alana ~ The Book Pimp · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK... It's very gangbang, attempted rapes all over the place... Breeding imperatives to keep vampires alive, and some sort of pheramones that even turn law abiding citizens into crazed orgy fiends...
But somehow, I couldn't really put it down. Almost makes me feel dirty, but did it stop me from reading? Oh, no. Not at all.

Basically, gangbang porn with a paranormal plot... Somehow I just couldn't stop myself...

[Genney Blass · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book in the beginning was a little heart wrench with the drama of being r*&( but it got better and the end. I as a woman does make me stronger and able to handle any or situation that rises in my way. But the author is correct it is strong for the weak heart.

[Awilk -never sleeps- · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was very strange. I really don't know what to write about it. All I can say is that I am curious enough to read the next story, and see how it goes.