Three alphas. One awakening mate. Zero chance of hiding.
So, good news: I'm not crazy. Bad news? Those "anxiety attacks" were actually my suppressed wolf trying to surface. Oh, and that cottage I inherited? Comes with three possessive alpha mates who've been waiting years to claim me.
Marcus, Derek, and Caleb Stone—three gorgeous, powerful wolf shifters who've been watching over their destined mate. Which explains the mysterious scar, the constant dreams about wolves, and why I can't seem to keep my hands off any of them.
Now I'm living in their luxury compound—totally not a prisoner, they insist—discovering powers I never knew I had, and trying to control this new heat that burns through me whenever they're near. And they're always near.
But just as I'm starting to embrace this whole "destined mate" thing—and figure out how to stop being stuck as the world's smallest, most frustrated wolf—rival packs are closing in, drawn by something in my blood that makes me more valuable—and dangerous—than anyone suspected.
Marked by Alphas, Book 2: Claimed is a MM paranormal reverse harem romance featuring: A sassy mate coming into his power (when he's not stuck as an adorably tiny wolf) Three alpha brothers who've run out of patience Awakening supernatural abilities Protective alphas turning feral Steam level: scorching Pack politics and rival wolves A compound that's starting to feel like home Heated encounters that put Book 1 to shame First tastes of mate bonds Size difference that still makes everyone swoon Blood Moon Chronicle Books
Marked by Alphas (Kai and the Stone Brothers) Book 1: Marked Book 2: Claimed
Bound by Alphas (Finn and the Sinclair Brothers) Book 1: Bound
The mystery and the circling of the first book is replaced with a lot of happening while nothing really happens until Everything happens at once, the spice is added and The End. The addition of the older Asian lady was not a success, I have to be seriously convinced to like the quirky, bossy, irrationally over-respected female characters, she was supposed to be cute or funny and I felt only annoyed. The rommance hit an invisible wall, I don't feel like any real progress is made since they are pretty much in a relationship right from the start and they seal the deal, spoiler, at the end because... what? The sealing was hyped up and I was yawning by that point. The sex... like, I already mentioned harem type is below sharing in my personal list but they are brothers, so like, makes sense. They didn't get jealous (played possive games with each other) so points for that but... from a certain point, I was looking forward to finally moving forward, even if I initially hoped it will stay romance-focused throughout but by the time it came, it was... below average? The sudden addition of actual sexual words and acts felt weird and... look, I am just going to say it because the book was... you should absolutely skip this part if you want to remain oblivious but to be innocently explicit, the brothers all did The Thing and I mean shifters and commited menas no rubber, right, so that physical aspect was absolutely NOT talked about in any capacity but it was implied so when one of them got... like, his mouth... and therew was... from both his brothers... like, you get what happened? With sharing, this is the dirty spice and here... I am still flabbergasted. Before any hinjinks? Very nice of them. Rimming after... his brothers...
Anyway...
The paranormal stuff really exploded and it was trying to replace the relationship tension from the first book and failed. It came too late, after too much useless mystery, the size difference was just weird, the Kai suprise (his bloodline/magic) was cool in theory but I was no impressed by the execution...
I think it comes down to coolness. Romance and especially paranormal/fantasy one has big potential for the WOW/super serious factor. Ancient powers, powerful beings and enemies, complicated magic or whole new cultures... on the other side is the fluffy side, the shifters who pretended to be dogs to get petted by the cute, perky human. Well, the first book wanted to find a nice middle and this one veered way too firmly into fluff. The adoration for the newly minted Special Snowflake on top of the Maria and Co. fussing like grandmas...
I was mostly like coasting through, but since nothing that impressive or enjoyable happened and instead, the annoyances started popping out... Nah, I am sorry, I am going to say this was average at best. I am not disappointed enough to go for two stars (and I think some people will like the things that bugged me) but I'll seriously consider if I want to continue.
I mostly skimmed through like 70% of this book because I was curious. I don’t always need spice, but these 2 books were almost 900 (Kindle) pages before things moved in that direction.
So many of the problems could have been fixed by a good editor. Immediately translating foreign words in parentheses still? Jail. Straight to jail.
Another reviewer mentions that this book seems to have been written by AI and that really made me think. It’s very possible that AI was involved. It would explain why so many words and phrases are repeated exactly just pages apart.
For instance, this quote- “Been feeling everything,” he said, voice rough. “Every kiss. Every touch. Every sound they drew from you.”
Then ONE Kindle page later- “Been feeling everything,” he murmured, trailing burning kisses down my throat. “Every touch. Every gasp. Every little whimper they drew from you.”
Apparently this book adds Luke’s first person POV and the Blackwood brothers’ third person POV. No thanks. It adds nothing and then disappears about a third of the way into the book.
The first book was obsessed with cooking, so it made me literally laugh out loud when there was an actual cooking competition that happened for no real reason whatsoever. It also featured paella. 🤣
Finally, my biggest issue is the fact that three of our main characters are brothers. No one thought at all about anything being slightly awkward. There’s even a moment near the end that features a bit too much… fluid… with no real consideration for the fact that these brothers can’t possibly be that close.
Besides that, we know that they claimed Kai nine years ago. I would assume that none of them have been with anyone else in those nine years. But that is never addressed, never even considered, and certainly not expanded upon in anyway that helps the reader. There’s a moment where something spicy that one of the brothers does is called “practiced,” which, how? I know they’re older than him, but shouldn’t they have all waited for him for the last nine years? At the very least, shouldn’t the author address this for the sake of the audience? None of this part of the story seems to make any sense, and ends up just being terribly frustrating.
3.5 stars. The book was good but does end on a cliffhanger. This book introduces new enemies, new alliances, and expands on Kai's relationship with the brothers and his friend Luke. This book also appears to set up another love story for Luke. I thought that this was a fun book and if the author writes the conclusion to this book I will likely read it.
There were things that could have been improved on which is why the star rating is lower.
The author repeats themselves non-stop. I dont mind seeing the same thing happen from a different POV but I do have issue with repeating the same thing over and over again, ad nauseam. The author hammers the "supernatural" this and "supernatural" this repeatedly. I get that this is book about the supernatural but does there really need to be supernatural coffee, supernatural shampoo, supernatural light, supernatural lube, etc... in this series. These are werewolves so shouldn't some of the supernatural be implied.
The cut an paste feature was used quite a bit in this book. The author uses the exact same sentence several times, sometimes in one chapter, versus figuring out how to present the thought a different way. The fact that each character has the same exact reaction/thought is strange.
The author also needs pace how the "control slips" or the "wolf is near the surface" etc... These were used too many times so close together that there should have been no control remaining and the werewolf should have been in wolf form or some sort of hybrid form.
I understood the feelings/points that the author was attempting to convey but the repetition (along with the need to make everything super special) became annoying.
I liked it again—both the plot and the main leads kept me hooked.
But gosh, one thing annoyed me even more than in the first book: the secondary characters. Especially Maria, but also George and Luke. They never let the poor MC have a moment alone with his lovers—not to eat, not to relax, not even in their own bedrooms! I lost count of how many times they were interrupted. Of course, this is a totally subjective and personal gripe—the author has every right to structure the story how she wants—but it really got on my nerves.
And it's such a shame when the MC and the MLs have top-notch chemistry! Let them breathe! Let them be together without constant third-wheeling!
Thankfully, the ending made up for it a little (and what an ending—finally! I was really starting to get annoyed with the trio). Still, I feel like the story really needs better pacing: romance moments, then plot moments, and then secondary character moments. Because the way it is now? It just doesn’t work for me.
Coming from my review of book one, this book also had a lot of repetition. Like too many, we get it, Derek was military, Caleb the playful one, and Marcus was serious. For the love of God, some of the scenes were the same from different POV, and I almost cried. The book was even longer and felt longer because of this.
The dogs were also a copy of their owner... yes, more repetition in character descriptions, but in dog form.
Now, the characters: more and more characters. By the end, I didn't even know who was who besides the main ones.
It was a lot of filling chapters until the last 10% of the book, which was the spicy scene, and again, these guys are BROTHERS.
I liked Luke and the Blackwood brothers, which hahaha they very also a copy of the Stone brothers. I kid you not, Luke = Kai, and the Blackwood brothers = the Stone brothers.
I wished the next books were about Luke, to finish the story here because it was kind of an open ending, but they introduce different characters, so I'm not interested in continuing the story. I wanted more Luke and his three beaus.
1000% too long. Waited to the last chapters of the book to deliver on the spice, which seemed written by someone unfamiliar with MM at all as most descriptions were female based. Hidden bad guys popped out of nowhere turning a bloated story into a circus. The first book was great, written in a way that delivered on the emotions of the story; book two was wet cardboard cut with cookie cutter phrases used so many times you'll roll your eyes until they're stuck.
The author should be made aware that her sex scenes are not spicy, contrived, unrealistic, and not good. Do what you do best, write blossoming YA romance that fades to black. Most importantly, do not imply an XXX rated book to your readers and deliver 90% filler and a repetitive and unrealistic single sex scene in the last chapter of the book. So bait and switch.
This is my last read from this author, which is a shame as the first book was good with decent potential.
M/MMM 🌶️🌶️🌶️ Paranormal Werewolves and dragon/wolf hybrid
Kai’s, Marcus, Caleb and Derek’s story continues.
Luke and his mom come to visit after he tells them he is a werewolf. Luke catches the Blackwood bros attention (so I am assuming there will be another M/MMM with them).
Kai shifts to his wolf form for the first time and gets stuck. But it is because he has another blood present. Come to find out he is part dragon as well.
There is a prophecy. There is a little battle with several other groups. Kai shifts to his wolf/dragon hybrid form. The brothers finally claim him as their mate. His cum gives the bros a magical level up.
Again, there are so many phrases repeated verbatim! Like find a thesaurus or something…
Honestly…lots of repetitive used of words, as though the author hit their vocabulary maximum early on. At one point I swore to myself that if the author used “tactical” one more time in the chapter that I was in, that I was going to DNF this book.
All of the household staff were Hispanic, so there’s also that. I don’t think aside the Latin and Asian characters there was any diversity to speak of.
The MC’s dick was described as an “average but irresistible soldier”, a minimum of two times and he was somehow both useless and OP. I won’t spoil it by saying what he was but it gave major ‘Mary Sue’ meets ‘Cliche The Third’.
Claimed is the second book in the series and it continues from the first book! Kai is navigating new powers and discovering his heritage, bonding with his three hunky alpha mates and learning new, deadly enemies.
I really enjoyed this! We get to see Luke and the proper introduction of the Blackwood brothers who are very interested in Luke 👀
The tension between Kai, Marcus, Caleb and Derek ramp up! So expect some spicy scenes! 🔥🪭
If I had one issue, it is the “big bad”. It’s out of nowhere, very big and I wish it was more grounded, I feel like it took the story out there, if you know what I mean! There is a cliffhanger and I am now going to patiently wait for the next one!!
I have to be honest, I knew the first book was a bit of a hot mess but I loved the push and pull so I ended up finding it rather enjoyable. This was not like that.
Lack of adjectives, excessive witty comebacks, messy pacing, and too many cooks in the kitchen (POVs).
At this point I don’t think I’ll continue this series, which is a shame because it really could have been something if it was scaled back about 30% with heavy editing and a beta reader or two.
So first off spice lvl about 3/5 the first one had like no spice so yep this is spicier. Book me think it would be more, so I don't want you disappointed.
However the plot had me edge of my seat.. stayed up til 2am to finish. I loved seeing kai change and come into his own, and keep all that snark. I also can't wait to read about Luke.
I enjoy the author's writing style and the characters that have been created. I enjoyed seeing the MCs' connection deepen as well as getting to know supporting characters better. I hope the author continues to expand this world with Kai and the Stone brothers.
Great story concept but I thought there would be more spice for a reverse harem. A ton or repetitive words and sentences/descriptions almost like AI was involved. I can't stand DNFing so I skimmed the last quarter of it honestly. I really like the idea but it just did not work for me.
So I was interested in this story but as we got more and more I got so bored, I just finished cuz I had to, you know? And the sex scenes towards the end? Kinda cringey but anyway. Magic magic bla bla bla
I won’t continue this it was so boring and unnecessarily long for the plot it had. Which didn’t develop as much, and honestly just ugh
Spoiler …..took 2 books and the last chapter to get any “spice”. This is a paranormal book regarding the supernatural. A tiny bit of smut was thrown in to make it seem worthy of being read as a MMMM.. no heat. No drive. No passion. Just last chapter yawn scene. Won’t be moving on to book 3.
I love kai! He has a wicked sense of humour and dads that had me laughing non stop. This is a great book. Zara Lee has a great sense of humour and a unique way of telling a story. The sexy were Hawt!!!! Definitely worth the 5 stars.
I can understand where other readers are coming from when they talk about the repetitive language throughout the book but I loved Kai’s sass! And why didn’t Luke get the next book?!?!
This book had potential to be really good but it ended up being shit and introduced so many story lines that were never touched on lol it actually annoys me