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Alien Warrior #2
ThunderClaw
'Truth, I am who females like best.' ~King Beowyn, Great Alpha, House of ThunderClaw
'My wife and husband do not get along.' ~ High Commander Éorik, Royal Defender, House of SnowBlade
'Like my ancestors before me, I fight to the death for freedom.' ~ Sìne of Clan Grae
'Want binky.' ~ Fergie of Clan Grae
A King, his commander, an Earthling and her kin.
Trekking through outer space to distant galaxies.
Feasts, a storm, annihilation and rebirth.
This tale is about the bonds between family and friends. A saga of the love between a woman and two aliens.
Warning: violence, profanity and sexual situations with multiple partners.
'My wife and husband do not get along.' ~ High Commander Éorik, Royal Defender, House of SnowBlade
'Like my ancestors before me, I fight to the death for freedom.' ~ Sìne of Clan Grae
'Want binky.' ~ Fergie of Clan Grae
A King, his commander, an Earthling and her kin.
Trekking through outer space to distant galaxies.
Feasts, a storm, annihilation and rebirth.
This tale is about the bonds between family and friends. A saga of the love between a woman and two aliens.
Warning: violence, profanity and sexual situations with multiple partners.
596 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 1, 2017
227 people are currently reading
1248 people want to read
About the author
Penelope Fletcher
27 books1,355 followersPenelope Jade Fletcher is a British author of genre romance. She has a number of international digital bestsellers, reaching the Amazon Kindle UK Top 100 chart in early 2011 with her third book, and the Barnes & Noble Nook Top 100 chart later the same year with her fifth.
Debuting at twenty two years old in 2010 with young adult fantasy Glamour, Penelope predominantly writes romance novels with supernatural elements, but recently penned a historical western, and has a regency romance in the works.
Penelope has independently sold over 100,000 eBooks. She loves nothing more than reading. Writing comes a close second.
Debuting at twenty two years old in 2010 with young adult fantasy Glamour, Penelope predominantly writes romance novels with supernatural elements, but recently penned a historical western, and has a regency romance in the works.
Penelope has independently sold over 100,000 eBooks. She loves nothing more than reading. Writing comes a close second.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 171 reviews
February 7, 2017
The more I think on this one, it's just a two star read for me.
I'm glad that I read it, but I in no way enjoyed it as much as book 1. I got to the point where I started highlighting every editing issue on my Kindle. Review to come.
I'm glad that I read it, but I in no way enjoyed it as much as book 1. I got to the point where I started highlighting every editing issue on my Kindle. Review to come.
February 6, 2017
Actual: 3.75 stars
Ok, let's be honest.
All of us Venomous fans are total stalkers, we were crabby at Penelope for the delayed release and lack of updates, and we all knew the minute ThunderClaw was announced available for preorder or live, and we're all like ...
So, this book had a great deal to live up to for most of us, not just in comparison to Venomous but due to the build-up and wait. I think this sort of situation can lead to skewed reviews because we judge based on comparison and emotional expectations. I'll TRY not to be that way.
side note: is it really fair to give a book a rating before it ever comes out because you're ticked off at the author for missing a release date? come on, people. that is not reviewing a book, that's venting. end rant.
I had a difficult time getting into this book at the start, because I didn't identify with Sine. As a woman, I felt her reactions to the beginning circumstances were not believable and kinda wishy washy. As a mother, her maternal reactions were weak, particularly in the immediate scenes where she remained essentially calm and pondered attraction to this alien that got her into this mess.
That said, I stuck with it because, yes, I had waited a long time for this sequel and also because the world building started to get pretty good, so I wanted to see where it went. Also, I confess, I liked both ThunderClaw and Eorik from the start.
About 20% in I began to fall into the story and enjoy it, and at 25% I felt that the author got her rhythm and we were on a roll. Once we arrived at ThunderClaw's homeworld, I saw the clever world-building and alien descriptions I enjoy so much, whether in a serious space opera or a frivolous fun sci-fi-rom.
Now when Sine did a very selfish thing I nearly pitched my kindle against the wall and gave up. All worked out in the end, but I think that was a major mistake on the author's part and I'm still kinda pissed about it.
Yes I'm puritanical like that sometimes. Don't care.
I was thrilled to have so much action and involvement from Lumen and Venomous et. al. So many sequels do not include much of the previous set of characters that we enjoyed, and I was happy that this one did.
I enjoyed the fact that the author doesn't shy away from bisexual and transgender people and situations, and doesn't treat them differently.
And from about 50% on, I actually began to like Sine. I identified with her insecurities wholeheartedly. Is it a little weak for a heroine? Yeah, maybe, but if you've been there and felt 'not good enough' then you can identify. I appreciated that she was a bit more staid and less ridiculous than our dear Lumen can tend to be sometimes (let's be honest, Lumen got a little over-the-top snarky towards the end of Venomous, and she's pretty bossy with her doting men.)
I also liked the way they handled their unusual marriage.
And I loved the world building. The unusual species. The animals. The imperfect characters and governments and systems and classes. The complexities of slavery, monarchy, democracy, power. So, while some of the romance aspects and other things bothered me, I respect the hell out of the tackling of difficult subjects.
Overall, I appreciate and admire the author's efforts and the entire book completely and I liked it. Good Sci Fi Romance.
HOWEVER.
Holy moly, woman, the editing.
I understand it took you a long time to write the book and life gets in the way, etc. Writing is HARD. I know this. I understand if you're not a social creature and don't update your website or talk to your readers, that's fine, I'd hate that crap too.
But OH MY GOD if you are going to make us all wait this long, an author that has been of your award-winning caliber since your debut, do you think maybe you could have done a few more editing passes? I bet at least 12 of your loyal readers, myself included, would have VOLUNTEERED to do it for FREE.
Penelope, I love you, but next time, don't rush the end game. Get out the red pen before you grace us with another installment.
Ok, let's be honest.
All of us Venomous fans are total stalkers, we were crabby at Penelope for the delayed release and lack of updates, and we all knew the minute ThunderClaw was announced available for preorder or live, and we're all like ...
So, this book had a great deal to live up to for most of us, not just in comparison to Venomous but due to the build-up and wait. I think this sort of situation can lead to skewed reviews because we judge based on comparison and emotional expectations. I'll TRY not to be that way.
side note: is it really fair to give a book a rating before it ever comes out because you're ticked off at the author for missing a release date? come on, people. that is not reviewing a book, that's venting. end rant.
I had a difficult time getting into this book at the start, because I didn't identify with Sine. As a woman, I felt her reactions to the beginning circumstances were not believable and kinda wishy washy. As a mother, her maternal reactions were weak, particularly in the immediate scenes where she remained essentially calm and pondered attraction to this alien that got her into this mess.
That said, I stuck with it because, yes, I had waited a long time for this sequel and also because the world building started to get pretty good, so I wanted to see where it went. Also, I confess, I liked both ThunderClaw and Eorik from the start.
About 20% in I began to fall into the story and enjoy it, and at 25% I felt that the author got her rhythm and we were on a roll. Once we arrived at ThunderClaw's homeworld, I saw the clever world-building and alien descriptions I enjoy so much, whether in a serious space opera or a frivolous fun sci-fi-rom.
Now when Sine did a very selfish thing I nearly pitched my kindle against the wall and gave up. All worked out in the end, but I think that was a major mistake on the author's part and I'm still kinda pissed about it.
Yes I'm puritanical like that sometimes. Don't care.
I was thrilled to have so much action and involvement from Lumen and Venomous et. al. So many sequels do not include much of the previous set of characters that we enjoyed, and I was happy that this one did.
I enjoyed the fact that the author doesn't shy away from bisexual and transgender people and situations, and doesn't treat them differently.
And from about 50% on, I actually began to like Sine. I identified with her insecurities wholeheartedly. Is it a little weak for a heroine? Yeah, maybe, but if you've been there and felt 'not good enough' then you can identify. I appreciated that she was a bit more staid and less ridiculous than our dear Lumen can tend to be sometimes (let's be honest, Lumen got a little over-the-top snarky towards the end of Venomous, and she's pretty bossy with her doting men.)
I also liked the way they handled their unusual marriage.
And I loved the world building. The unusual species. The animals. The imperfect characters and governments and systems and classes. The complexities of slavery, monarchy, democracy, power. So, while some of the romance aspects and other things bothered me, I respect the hell out of the tackling of difficult subjects.
Overall, I appreciate and admire the author's efforts and the entire book completely and I liked it. Good Sci Fi Romance.
HOWEVER.
Holy moly, woman, the editing.
I understand it took you a long time to write the book and life gets in the way, etc. Writing is HARD. I know this. I understand if you're not a social creature and don't update your website or talk to your readers, that's fine, I'd hate that crap too.
But OH MY GOD if you are going to make us all wait this long, an author that has been of your award-winning caliber since your debut, do you think maybe you could have done a few more editing passes? I bet at least 12 of your loyal readers, myself included, would have VOLUNTEERED to do it for FREE.
Penelope, I love you, but next time, don't rush the end game. Get out the red pen before you grace us with another installment.
February 24, 2017
I enjoyed this for the most part. More as a sci fi really than a romance. Sometimes a polyamory story can work for me but here I was not really convinced about anyone's true feelings. Hero A loved the heroine best. The heroine loved Hero B and Hero B loved Hero A. Supposedly. Really though it seemed like the heroes loved each other and the heroine was an afterthought. The story started out strong with the conflict of the culture clash really shaping up to be interesting but somehow it all just lost impetus. The sci fi stayed pretty strong though so I liked it from that element. Decent read but not a reread.
reviews-say-meh
April 24, 2017From the reviews, it seems unconvincing. The H's world is an open marriage, bisexual hedonistic society that the h - a down on her luck girl- says yes to just to escape her situation on Earth. But later when she falls for the H, h tries to kill his favourite concubine(one of hundreds) and wants him to end his harem - but H wants h to apologise to his concubine who had been blowing him !!
It all leaves a bad taste in one's mouth. h seems a hypocrite and accepted H on false pretences. And as for the H, I have no idea why romance authors insist on writing a committed HEA for guys like these - just let him enjoy his harem. The End.
Not for me.
It all leaves a bad taste in one's mouth. h seems a hypocrite and accepted H on false pretences. And as for the H, I have no idea why romance authors insist on writing a committed HEA for guys like these - just let him enjoy his harem. The End.
Not for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 21, 2017
3.25 stars
-’Verse is still fascinating. The world building is pretty impressive and continues to expand as Veraks Beowyn and Éorik go on the quest to find Beowyn’s One. When they meet Sìne (pronounced Shee-na), that’s when the WTFery and eventually romance, happens. The adventure spans the ‘verse from Earth to their home planet, Vayhalun and I did love the ride and getting to learn more about the lusty Veraks.
-Not a standalone. This picks up immediately after events of Venomous, and Lumen and her Rä males feature pretty heavily in this installment, as the overarching storyline is the strongest asset to this book.
-Romances that are 1+1+1=happy me. It’s a triad, which I love. This is a MMF type menage, so the sexuality is fluid, the world itself is all about embracing the differences and not judging how people come together, no pun intended. Love is truly love and that is a message I can get behind. For those concerned with “safe” vs “unsafe” reads, well, menage is generally not very safe, and there’s some OW/M interactions. Hard to describe without going into spoiler territory but none of it goes past the point of no return for me, so I could handle it.
-Miscommunications galore. With that type of open message, I was disappointed to see that the romance depended so heavily on these three avoiding discussing their feelings, as well as some drama llama behavior that turned me off a tad. They struggled so much in communications when things that could have been handled much more efficiently with some actual talking. They even mention to each other that they should talk, then don’t do it. There’s plenty of drama to be had in the overarching storyling that this felt unnecessary.
-The story is a bit unevenly written and paced. It is long, and I do love a long book, as it usually gives you time to really delve into characterizations, but from an editing standpoint, but I do think it was a bit rushed to print. There were several editing errors (extra words, typos, etc.) that need to be cleaned up. Editing would have also helped with certain passages that felt superfluous and could have helped in keeping that tension from the overarching storyline tight, instead of meandering all over the place. As a consequence, towards the end it felt as if there was a rush to add several elements right at the end to build for the next installment and to wrap up the romance.
I was torn on the rating because there were several things that drove me crazy, but that overarching storyline still intrigues me. The ‘verse is great and that tease for the next installment? I have no idea how that’s going to work, I suspect it will make me very uncomfortable and yet I know I’ll be reading it. If that’s your kind of sci-fi read, give this a chance (but I’d start with the first book, Venomous).
For more reviews, visit
-’Verse is still fascinating. The world building is pretty impressive and continues to expand as Veraks Beowyn and Éorik go on the quest to find Beowyn’s One. When they meet Sìne (pronounced Shee-na), that’s when the WTFery and eventually romance, happens. The adventure spans the ‘verse from Earth to their home planet, Vayhalun and I did love the ride and getting to learn more about the lusty Veraks.
-Not a standalone. This picks up immediately after events of Venomous, and Lumen and her Rä males feature pretty heavily in this installment, as the overarching storyline is the strongest asset to this book.
-Romances that are 1+1+1=happy me. It’s a triad, which I love. This is a MMF type menage, so the sexuality is fluid, the world itself is all about embracing the differences and not judging how people come together, no pun intended. Love is truly love and that is a message I can get behind. For those concerned with “safe” vs “unsafe” reads, well, menage is generally not very safe, and there’s some OW/M interactions. Hard to describe without going into spoiler territory but none of it goes past the point of no return for me, so I could handle it.
-Miscommunications galore. With that type of open message, I was disappointed to see that the romance depended so heavily on these three avoiding discussing their feelings, as well as some drama llama behavior that turned me off a tad. They struggled so much in communications when things that could have been handled much more efficiently with some actual talking. They even mention to each other that they should talk, then don’t do it. There’s plenty of drama to be had in the overarching storyling that this felt unnecessary.
-The story is a bit unevenly written and paced. It is long, and I do love a long book, as it usually gives you time to really delve into characterizations, but from an editing standpoint, but I do think it was a bit rushed to print. There were several editing errors (extra words, typos, etc.) that need to be cleaned up. Editing would have also helped with certain passages that felt superfluous and could have helped in keeping that tension from the overarching storyline tight, instead of meandering all over the place. As a consequence, towards the end it felt as if there was a rush to add several elements right at the end to build for the next installment and to wrap up the romance.
I was torn on the rating because there were several things that drove me crazy, but that overarching storyline still intrigues me. The ‘verse is great and that tease for the next installment? I have no idea how that’s going to work, I suspect it will make me very uncomfortable and yet I know I’ll be reading it. If that’s your kind of sci-fi read, give this a chance (but I’d start with the first book, Venomous).
For more reviews, visit
February 7, 2017
DNF at 45%
Another book going to my ���Not likely to finish” shelf.
The story started off on a bad note by bringing Lumen back. I had hoped that she wouldn’t be back again once the real story started. I was wrong.
What pushed me over was Sines convoluted way of thinking. Her constant acting like she doesn’t want something, only to turn around and think that’s exactly what I want. Her over exaggerated insecurity, and her ability to see exactly what she’s doing wrong, but does nothing to stop herself or fix things.
Oh and can we say hypocritical much?
I don’t care how she sees things or works it out in her head, you can’t sleep with someone else then get upset when the guy does the same. Sorry honey, if you’ve been spreading your legs for another man not once, but twice. Your husband gets a pass for getting sucked off and not even liking it all that much.
Another book going to my ���Not likely to finish” shelf.
The story started off on a bad note by bringing Lumen back. I had hoped that she wouldn’t be back again once the real story started. I was wrong.
What pushed me over was Sines convoluted way of thinking. Her constant acting like she doesn’t want something, only to turn around and think that’s exactly what I want. Her over exaggerated insecurity, and her ability to see exactly what she’s doing wrong, but does nothing to stop herself or fix things.
Oh and can we say hypocritical much?
I don’t care how she sees things or works it out in her head, you can’t sleep with someone else then get upset when the guy does the same. Sorry honey, if you’ve been spreading your legs for another man not once, but twice. Your husband gets a pass for getting sucked off and not even liking it all that much.
December 13, 2022
I adored the first book in this series it’s a firm favourite of mine so my expectations for this one were sky-high. Unfortunately, this just didn’t deliver quite the same punch as its predecessor did. I still enjoyed parts of it and I’m more than likely going to read book three as this did finish on a pivotal point leaving some stuff in this universe unresolved but for me, this wasn’t in the same league as Venomous though it does have some pluses to recommend it.
Here king Beowyn Thunderclaw travels to earth to find his one after striking a bargain with his bestie Luman for the coordinates to her planet. Fixating his attentions on young single mother Sine he pursues her securing her agreement to join him in marriage becoming his Queen. He is accompanied on this journey by his best friend and loyal commander Eorik who is definitely the reason to his king's impulsiveness.
So initially Sine’s reasoning for deciding to uproot her daughter and family was way flimsy. She like decided in an instant like she was just changing postcodes or something not uprooting to fly across the galaxy with an unknown alien she’d known for all of five minutes. I just couldn’t see it mainly because of her daughter's safety and her family actually encourage this. I mean they’d hardly even had a conversation before Sine is onboard.
Then we have the double standards from Sine. I mean she knew straight off about Beowyn’s harem and concubines he doesn’t hide it and she doesn’t question it seems to accept that it’s his people's custom then later has a massive issue but fails to address it properly with him like using her actual words. She’s throwing a strop expecting him to be a mind reader and whilst she doesn’t want him being intimate with anyone else Sine’s jumping headfirst into the sack with her new husband's commander Eorik knowing that he’s more than likely going to have a problem with it. Sines's emotions are involved and apparently Sine as his wife is allowed her own harem and lovers but they're meant to be just that an outlet, not someone to invest emotion in this is where the issue lies and why he gets jealous. Though he’s also lusting after his commander who is in love right back with his king, I know complicated. I also felt that Sine sleeping with Eorik before consummating her marriage with her husband was just plain wrong and quite a shitty thing to do.
There was a lot here content-wise that i wasn’t a fan off and I think this is mostly because of the liberal practices on Vayhalan which is Beowyn’s home world. Sex just isn’t a big deal and is considered a fun pastime everyone seems to have concubines it’s the norm. I should clarify that the main characters do only have sex with each other but there were times when I wondered if things were going to occur differently and lines were somewhat blurred.
I just didn’t experience the same intensity I got from book one. With that one, I felt the mates there were completely devoted and would literally die for their woman but here I didn’t get that impression at all. Beowyn was so obtuse in his actions allowing a concubine that he had previously favoured that had also disrespected his wife to get as far as they did then using the excuse that they were trying to send them away and didn’t notice they’d got so far well I was actually bloody livid and then no real apology either. I just couldn’t see that shit occurring with Venomous Fiercely and Cobra.
This one is a poly romance and that aspect of it was done well it felt believable and this trio did have plenty of believable chemistry together. This is actually M/M/F and Beowyn and Eorik are also emotionally involved as well. I did think these three fit well together and I did like the eventual dynamic they arrived at.
This writing here was ok but at times this did feel a hell of a lot preachy and a tad political. It was lyrical but a bit prosey and it did sometimes feel in places long-winded. It definitely could have been condensed down some without losing anything. I also found it at times a bit confusing and would have to reread passages for some additional clarity.
I liked that we got to catch up with Luman and her mates but did feel she outshone Sine some. Sine felt whiny and inconsequential in comparison to Luman she, unfortunately, didn’t compare. I also liked the family dynamics and Sine’s daughter she was adorable Eorik’s relationship with her was also lovely.
The world-building here was again brilliant that I can’t fault it on and for a sci-fi romance the attention to detail and elaborate internal dynamics was excellent and imaginative. Overall this had positives and negatives I wasn’t sold on the story direction but maybe that says more about my personal taste. I’m still glad I read this and will probably read the next book just to see what happens.
Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
https://www.bookbub.com/profile/63435390
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Want to read
August 29, 2015I really want to read this book but I can't seem to find it anywhere:(
June 29, 2021
Welp. 3 stars.
I don't know if I'm too harsh because I waited so long or what. I think the build-up was too much for me. Let me 'splain:
I'm going to start by talking about the editing. Dear god, it was just bad. So bad. Bad bad. Words in mixed up places, homonyms instead of the correct words. In one instance, a character is replaced for another so I had backtrack to make sure who was actually doing what.
Now, I'm not a writer. Look at the mess I write. Not great. My grammar is atrocious. Sentence structure? I don't think so. But...There had to be a person, someone, anyone who would go over the material and point some things out. The very obvious ones. I volunteer. I would seriously do it in a heartbeat because, while I'm disappointed in some portions of this book, the imagination that made this world is flipping awesome. Also, I still want to know what happens next and my love for Venomous is strong.
Another issue I had was the crazy high level of angst. Everyone loved someone but no one would open their damn mouth to talk about it. You know, the way people do. It was maddening.
Finally: Sìne. Not my fav. I'm a fan of a flawed heroine but I need to see the potential. Ya mean? I am sympathetic to her life and struggles but I never got over the irritation. Her self-centeredness was hard to overlook and, yeah, she kinda sorta starts to turn shit around but too late for me. Lumen appears for a good part of the book and the comparison between the two wasn't favorable for Sìne. Ironic, because I will freely admit that I judge book people on a harsher scale than real people. But I'm reading about a fantasy world; I'm allowed to have unrealistic expectations.
This doesn't mean I hated the book. I'm getting all emo over three stars. I expected to 11 star it. Even though Sìne and Beowyn weren't my favorite, Èorick and the secondary characters (clan Grae!!) were lovable and very interesting and easily won favorite status. . There is a story arc that I hope doesn't take another couple of years to continue and I'm really REALLY interested in the awful Hel Beyr. I've already mentioned my Venomous lurve. That goes a looong way for me and smooths over the bumps in this one and keeps me anxiously waiting for the next one.
I don't know if I'm too harsh because I waited so long or what. I think the build-up was too much for me. Let me 'splain:
I'm going to start by talking about the editing. Dear god, it was just bad. So bad. Bad bad. Words in mixed up places, homonyms instead of the correct words. In one instance, a character is replaced for another so I had backtrack to make sure who was actually doing what.
Now, I'm not a writer. Look at the mess I write. Not great. My grammar is atrocious. Sentence structure? I don't think so. But...There had to be a person, someone, anyone who would go over the material and point some things out. The very obvious ones. I volunteer. I would seriously do it in a heartbeat because, while I'm disappointed in some portions of this book, the imagination that made this world is flipping awesome. Also, I still want to know what happens next and my love for Venomous is strong.
Another issue I had was the crazy high level of angst. Everyone loved someone but no one would open their damn mouth to talk about it. You know, the way people do. It was maddening.
Finally: Sìne. Not my fav. I'm a fan of a flawed heroine but I need to see the potential. Ya mean? I am sympathetic to her life and struggles but I never got over the irritation. Her self-centeredness was hard to overlook and, yeah, she kinda sorta starts to turn shit around but too late for me. Lumen appears for a good part of the book and the comparison between the two wasn't favorable for Sìne. Ironic, because I will freely admit that I judge book people on a harsher scale than real people. But I'm reading about a fantasy world; I'm allowed to have unrealistic expectations.
This doesn't mean I hated the book. I'm getting all emo over three stars. I expected to 11 star it. Even though Sìne and Beowyn weren't my favorite, Èorick and the secondary characters (clan Grae!!) were lovable and very interesting and easily won favorite status. . There is a story arc that I hope doesn't take another couple of years to continue and I'm really REALLY interested in the awful Hel Beyr. I've already mentioned my Venomous lurve. That goes a looong way for me and smooths over the bumps in this one and keeps me anxiously waiting for the next one.
April 10, 2017
I really wanted to give this a 5 star rating but in the end...I just couldn't.
For me, Venomous is hard to beat. Let me just say that Sine was no Lumen.
How did Beowyn find Sine? I found it hard to believe that he just randomly saw her in a restaurant and knew right away. Did her have to search the whole plantet? I did quite enjoy Sine's family though...Patrick, Fergus, Aled, Rowan and little Fergie.
I am so "team" Eorik. The way he took care of Fergie when they were stranded. Him changing her diaper totally had me cracking up. And the way he cares for Beowyn is just so heartbreaking.
I wanted Sine to be more open to her feelings for Beowyn. She was a little difficult to love as a character. One thing that made me quite uncomfortable is when .
Can't wait to find out more about Hel Bihter and Hel Behr...these guys freak me out.
For me, Venomous is hard to beat. Let me just say that Sine was no Lumen.
How did Beowyn find Sine? I found it hard to believe that he just randomly saw her in a restaurant and knew right away. Did her have to search the whole plantet? I did quite enjoy Sine's family though...Patrick, Fergus, Aled, Rowan and little Fergie.
I am so "team" Eorik. The way he took care of Fergie when they were stranded. Him changing her diaper totally had me cracking up. And the way he cares for Beowyn is just so heartbreaking.
I wanted Sine to be more open to her feelings for Beowyn. She was a little difficult to love as a character. One thing that made me quite uncomfortable is when .
Can't wait to find out more about Hel Bihter and Hel Behr...these guys freak me out.
September 2, 2018
3.5 stars
February 12, 2017
2.5 Stars - Cliffhanger Warning
I had waited for so long to read this book that I had to read Venomous again to remember the beginning of this saga.
Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this second book nearly as much. It's not an epic fail, but it's not what I'd hoped for. At least a quarter to a third could be jettisoned by a competent editor because of the unnecessary verbiage spent on overlong descriptions. If your vocabulary isn't really excellent, have your Merriam-Webster on hand, especially through the first half of the book because it's tedious.
There are a lot of typos. There are a few places where the wrong person's name is used and places where a character's name is misspelled. This isn't written in 'American English', so some terms won't make much sense to US readers.
I found myself becoming very irritated with the injection of modern-day politics into the story. There were a few things I agreed with, but a lot that I didn't... almost propaganda at times. (This naturally won't bother anyone that agrees with all of it, but I found myself wondering if this book was financed by the George Soros organizations.)
Unlike a few other reviewers, I didn't see the h as weak, just young. Her previous life experiences were rather grim and I think she was understandable.
I would recommend this is you really loved Venomous and want to carry on with the saga, but the main characters have changed in this one. There is an added element of grim danger that comes up at the end of this book (yep, it's a cliffhanger), so I might (probably will) read the next one to see what happens.
I had waited for so long to read this book that I had to read Venomous again to remember the beginning of this saga.
Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this second book nearly as much. It's not an epic fail, but it's not what I'd hoped for. At least a quarter to a third could be jettisoned by a competent editor because of the unnecessary verbiage spent on overlong descriptions. If your vocabulary isn't really excellent, have your Merriam-Webster on hand, especially through the first half of the book because it's tedious.
There are a lot of typos. There are a few places where the wrong person's name is used and places where a character's name is misspelled. This isn't written in 'American English', so some terms won't make much sense to US readers.
I found myself becoming very irritated with the injection of modern-day politics into the story. There were a few things I agreed with, but a lot that I didn't... almost propaganda at times. (This naturally won't bother anyone that agrees with all of it, but I found myself wondering if this book was financed by the George Soros organizations.)
Unlike a few other reviewers, I didn't see the h as weak, just young. Her previous life experiences were rather grim and I think she was understandable.
I would recommend this is you really loved Venomous and want to carry on with the saga, but the main characters have changed in this one. There is an added element of grim danger that comes up at the end of this book (yep, it's a cliffhanger), so I might (probably will) read the next one to see what happens.
February 5, 2017
This book is practically incomprehensible. The story is a jumbled mess. The editing is so poorly done I had to reread some passages three times to understand what was written. The characters are all over the place and seemingly contradict themselves (especially the h) from one page to the next. The h is Scottish and one moment she is speaking in a heavy brogue and the next it's like the author forget to give the h her accent.
DNF @ 45%.
DNF @ 45%.
February 9, 2017
Sonunda çıktı da okuduk. Yazarın hayal gücü fena. Diyeceklerim bu kadar haha
Dipnot: Hayır, bu kitap beklediğim kadar komik değildi.
"Yazarı kapak seçimleri konusunda tebrik ediyorum. Tam kafalarda canlandırdığı gibi şeyler ortaya çıkarmış. :D Ay bu kitap komedi olacak."
Dipnot: Hayır, bu kitap beklediğim kadar komik değildi.
"Yazarı kapak seçimleri konusunda tebrik ediyorum. Tam kafalarda canlandırdığı gibi şeyler ortaya çıkarmış. :D Ay bu kitap komedi olacak."
February 6, 2017
Really wish I felt different
2 1/2 stars. I have to admit, I am had a real hard time getting through ThunderClaw. I'm sad to say I'm very disappointed. My main problem is I found it very difficult for me to like the h. I get that she has a lot of insecurities (due to events that happened in her past, and were explained well), but she is coming off to me mainly as selfish, and I can't even begin to understand her choices as a mother. (Yes, I understand it's fiction, but I can only suspend my beliefs so much) I am enjoying the H's, and the secondary characters. However, I have an issue with seeing the actual "love" the three are saying they have for each other--I can feel it more with the two H's, but the h doesn't seem to fit the relationship to me. In Venemous, I could actually see and understand the love the characters felt for each other growing as the story went on. They all ended up forming one romantic family unit--Even though I'm usually a "one girl, one guy" type of reader, each of those characters in Venemous's "nest" fit, and are irreplaceable. I'm not getting that here. It could be because I don't see what called Beowyn to make the h his "one". I honestly thought Beowyn and Eorik made a more believable couple by themselves, and the h was just an afterthought, and not needed for the romantic storyline. Actually, my favorite parts of ThunderClaw have been when Lumen and her H's have been in the scene. On top of that, I had physically difficulties with the flow--I kept having to go back over a sentence to figure out what I just read. I don't remember having this problem reading Venemous. I will say, the last 25% captured my interest much better with some great action/suspense. There is also a lead in to the next installment which looks interesting. I based my 2 1/2 star rating on my feeling of lack of real romance from the main characters, but raised it a little due to the exciting action toward the end.
2 1/2 stars. I have to admit, I am had a real hard time getting through ThunderClaw. I'm sad to say I'm very disappointed. My main problem is I found it very difficult for me to like the h. I get that she has a lot of insecurities (due to events that happened in her past, and were explained well), but she is coming off to me mainly as selfish, and I can't even begin to understand her choices as a mother. (Yes, I understand it's fiction, but I can only suspend my beliefs so much) I am enjoying the H's, and the secondary characters. However, I have an issue with seeing the actual "love" the three are saying they have for each other--I can feel it more with the two H's, but the h doesn't seem to fit the relationship to me. In Venemous, I could actually see and understand the love the characters felt for each other growing as the story went on. They all ended up forming one romantic family unit--Even though I'm usually a "one girl, one guy" type of reader, each of those characters in Venemous's "nest" fit, and are irreplaceable. I'm not getting that here. It could be because I don't see what called Beowyn to make the h his "one". I honestly thought Beowyn and Eorik made a more believable couple by themselves, and the h was just an afterthought, and not needed for the romantic storyline. Actually, my favorite parts of ThunderClaw have been when Lumen and her H's have been in the scene. On top of that, I had physically difficulties with the flow--I kept having to go back over a sentence to figure out what I just read. I don't remember having this problem reading Venemous. I will say, the last 25% captured my interest much better with some great action/suspense. There is also a lead in to the next installment which looks interesting. I based my 2 1/2 star rating on my feeling of lack of real romance from the main characters, but raised it a little due to the exciting action toward the end.
February 23, 2017
This books reads much better if you read or reread the first in the series first--Venomous.
This is a sage. A big, fat, multi layered sage with a triangle of a poly romance that works for me. '
The loved forever theme and the heroine who does not trust adds great tension to this science fiction romance.
I love that the heroine doesn't just leave. She has family. She is a mother. She is practical.
The layers peal off all the characters (main and secondary). There are huge plot events. They all need to talk more but it is very good anyway.
I am not thrilled with the ending of this one in terms of a big lead up to the next book instead of closing this one fully (we get a nice HEA) but I am looking forward to the next one.
This is a sage. A big, fat, multi layered sage with a triangle of a poly romance that works for me. '
The loved forever theme and the heroine who does not trust adds great tension to this science fiction romance.
I love that the heroine doesn't just leave. She has family. She is a mother. She is practical.
The layers peal off all the characters (main and secondary). There are huge plot events. They all need to talk more but it is very good anyway.
I am not thrilled with the ending of this one in terms of a big lead up to the next book instead of closing this one fully (we get a nice HEA) but I am looking forward to the next one.
February 26, 2017
I loved the first book and would love to read the second book. It's too bad that this one is getting poor ratings because it didn't come out when it was expected in December of 2015. Still, I'm willing to wait to read it. I've waited longer for other books so no biggie.
September 2, 2017
Oh, when will this book be released? When?
February 7, 2017
Good length but long wait
F***ING good book. Few misplaced words and spelling. Wish women were stronger. Love the reverse harem. Need more like them.
F***ING good book. Few misplaced words and spelling. Wish women were stronger. Love the reverse harem. Need more like them.
February 26, 2017
This is a really good book. Seriously, my comments below are only in relationship to the first book. Read this book, and the next one too.
Unfortunately, it's not as good as the first one, for a weird combination of reasons. Venomous was exceptional for me, in large part because it focused on the main group. In the process, an exciting world and galaxy was developed, creating many possibilities for the second book (and more!). Unfortunately, the author tries to do too much with this one. There are too many moving parts - multiple species, families, challenges and tragedies, and lots of convoluted politics. One casualty was the erotic scenes, which were too few and too brief. Everyone is so wrapped up in their own responsibilities that they never get to form the strong bonds required to show the deep love and intense lust that our heroes deserve.
All these different factors were very well written, and each could have been the core of a separate book. I am really looking forward to the next one, if it goes the way I think it will.
PS: Why does this have a "paranormal" tag?
Unfortunately, it's not as good as the first one, for a weird combination of reasons. Venomous was exceptional for me, in large part because it focused on the main group. In the process, an exciting world and galaxy was developed, creating many possibilities for the second book (and more!). Unfortunately, the author tries to do too much with this one. There are too many moving parts - multiple species, families, challenges and tragedies, and lots of convoluted politics. One casualty was the erotic scenes, which were too few and too brief. Everyone is so wrapped up in their own responsibilities that they never get to form the strong bonds required to show the deep love and intense lust that our heroes deserve.
All these different factors were very well written, and each could have been the core of a separate book. I am really looking forward to the next one, if it goes the way I think it will.
PS: Why does this have a "paranormal" tag?
February 5, 2017
After loving Venomous One, I was very much looking forward to this story but I ended up stopping at 60% as I couldn't get myself into the story or into the characters. Beowyn is kind of weak in his pursuit and his shows of affection, even after promising the moon to Sine. As for her, I was very close to hating her and her personality. She was very plain and weak, not standing up for herself in anyway, being swayed by whatever other say, not even knowing her own heart and the consequences of her actions. I could not find much affinity for any of the other characters either, sadly. Despite an interesting set up of aliens and intergalactic conflicts, this story left me with my feet on the ground, not with my head in the stars.
February 2, 2017
Thunder claw
I have enjoyed this book greatly even though it had a few spelling mistakes,and it would be better to have read the first book to have better understanding of the characters and different types of aliens mentioned. I look forward for the next book:)
I have enjoyed this book greatly even though it had a few spelling mistakes,and it would be better to have read the first book to have better understanding of the characters and different types of aliens mentioned. I look forward for the next book:)
February 5, 2017
DNF at 38%.
February 14, 2017
Dnf'd though i tried hard and got to 76%. Many typos and the plot was not balanced. The "conflict" was frustrating and there was too much daily life stuff
August 18, 2025
I started Book 1 Venemous One, got to 30% and thought why am I reading this, it's not enjoyable. However I thought let me give it a go with Book 2.
Book 2 starts with the heroine of Book 1 Lumen giving birth and now she's the wifelet of 3 lizard/snake people not just one. Still deeply irritating 😩
Thankfully it moved onto a cat like male who is going to Scotland to find the human female he has stalked. He gets into her house, she runs to family, he follows, she agrees to be his wife. Apparently the extended family will all be going to live on cat man's home planet. Because that would happen right 🙄
That's around 16% where I stopped. I have too many books on my kindle and shelf to be reading books that I questioning the heck out of.
A lot of the time it's timing for me. And maybe a beach vacation is not the time for extraterrestrial relationships and annoying main characters. Maybe I will give it ago again or sometime never if I don't extend my Kindle Unlimited trial
Book 2 starts with the heroine of Book 1 Lumen giving birth and now she's the wifelet of 3 lizard/snake people not just one. Still deeply irritating 😩
Thankfully it moved onto a cat like male who is going to Scotland to find the human female he has stalked. He gets into her house, she runs to family, he follows, she agrees to be his wife. Apparently the extended family will all be going to live on cat man's home planet. Because that would happen right 🙄
That's around 16% where I stopped. I have too many books on my kindle and shelf to be reading books that I questioning the heck out of.
A lot of the time it's timing for me. And maybe a beach vacation is not the time for extraterrestrial relationships and annoying main characters. Maybe I will give it ago again or sometime never if I don't extend my Kindle Unlimited trial
January 20, 2019
Hunky alien alpha king proposes to human woman rather than abducting her. What a promising start, and I very much enjoyed the the first in this series, Venomous. Unfortunately, a third of the way in the narrative deteriorates into the angst levels of contemporary new adult. And stays there for the next third. A strong final third redeemed to three stars. Maybe 3 1/2.
September 20, 2019
Another Fletcher novel I had to think on quite a bit before I could figure out how to rate it. Overall I liked the story, but it has so. many. issues. I settled on a rounded down 3, but it's definitely in the mid-3★ range.
Non-story factors that affected my decision:
⤷ Where on earth was the editor for this one? If it hasn't already been harped on enough in other reviews, this is rife with typos, homonym errors (often in the same sentence where the word would be in the correct form once, then incorrect the next time. I...wut?!), extra/missing words, and incorrect character names given for who is being described in some sections. There was even one baffling error which should have been the main character's name and there was a random nonsense name instead. It was really frustrating to be forced to go back or reread something 3+ times to figure out what the intended meaning is. I would just begin to enjoy the story again and be forced to retreat and decipher. More than a couple dozen times. I just. UGH. Anyone playing a drinking game to this would have died of alcohol poisoning before discovering them all. I accept that all indie-published works will have at least a few typos, but this was by far the worst I have encountered.
Some reviews conjecture this work was rushed out after a missed deadline. Based on evidence in the text, I suspect this is accurate. This looked and felt more like a first draft than the fully finished product. The editing ball was dropped. It's not polished.
⤷ Related: this book needed some serious trimming/editing of length. There are a lot of superfluous words just filling space (and someone got thesaurus happy and made a lot of odd word choices when it should have been kept simple). I suspect 25-30% could be trimmed out without loss of plot or meaning to the story. There's even one short, confusing portion of a chapter from the point of view of a previously-unknown character, adds nothing to the story, and confuses the rest of the chapter. The story line in this work is muddied at the best of times. Again, it felt like an early draft that was not given the polishing and time needed to make it shine.
Characters:
It always comes down to characters with me, doesn't it?
⤷ Sìne: let's get our heroine out of the way first, since this is usually the character that makes or breaks a story for me. For the first 75% of the book, I did not care for Sìne. At all. A lot of this is simply she's just too damn young (not to mention that math errors that gave me a headache while trying to puzzle out--how does a 21 year old have a 3 year old she gave birth to when she was 19? Another editing error? Was she supposed to be 22? Was there an earlier decision to have her be a younger mother but that part was flubbed up? Which is it?), and my patience for young characters is decreasing exponentially the older I get. I mostly avoid YA because Sullen Teens are not my bag. And Sìne is bratty. Incredibly sullen. Prone to drama. Knowingly acts like an asshole for the sake of it. Feels entitled to being met "halfway" even though she's nearly 100% in the wrong. Almost all interactions with Beowyn can be envisioned ending with her slamming her bedroom door while she shrieks that she hates him. She simply has a terrible personality... and I could not see the hidden strength or depth that is supposed to be there. That light never shone in a way that I could see.
Once the stupid (and pointlessly drawn out) relationship main conflict is sorted out, she's easier to deal with. She stops acting out so badly and mellows.
Her cynicism felt really icky and tacky at times. Her initial reason for going with Beowyn was... understandable but not admirable. Especially when she had zero intention of reciprocating. She's hard to like. Even more difficult to respect. I'm not sure how many times I can stress this. I probably could have forgiven her if she wasn't so dead set on grinding her heel into Beowyn's heart over and over. For most of the book. In increasingly cruel ways. It hurt to see a character who is usually so open and carefree repeatedly wounded after putting himself out there. To see him driven to jealousy--given how his species is--was heart breaking. If you're going to make a deal, keep up your end of it, girl.
Her Big Hurt backstory is so... boring and melodramatic to the point of eye rolling. One bad relationship over the duration of one year and she becomes a shriveled husk of a woman at 19 and locks herself away forever? The poverty she and Fergie were living in made for a more believable hurt than her ex. Her short life hadn't been amazing up until that point; most people's have not. I would have hoped all of the hurts and disappointments in her life would have taught her to be compassionate and kind--especially when hearts are involved. Instead she created and fostered resentments to justify her actions.
Her positives? Uh. Hmmm. She was a decent-ish friend to Lumen when she wasn't being petty and jealous. In fact, she made me like Lumen, who I previously disliked. That's how unlikable Sìne is. And she was able to love Éorik in a way that he deserved, which made me happy with her. And she managed to not totally bork things up as Great Lady for the whole day (?) she acted in that capacity. OK. And after she stopped creating reasons to be angry at Beowyn and accept their relationship (and got her way about a cultural issue she refused to accept. SIGH), she is a decent third in that triad.
Her insecurities are easy to sympathize with, even if maddening. I doubt many of us haven't been stuck with many of the same ones. Her inability to stop comparing herself to Lumen (or literally any member of Beowyn's 400 person harem) and making herself resentful and angry was believable. She could dig in and create a grudge where none previously existed.
⤷ Éorik: Oh, Éorik, you were my favorite character in Venomous, and I continue to love you in this book. Éorik was written with a nice balance of flaws and admirable traits. He's so breath-takingly loyal to both of his mates. (Not a spoiler, given the blurb chooses to reveal that tidbit.) The reason he could not previously make his big confession to Beowyn never really made sense. His willingness to sacrifice and make non-conventional decisions to try and make things easier for Sìne was admirable (even if those choices unintentionally made Sìne's resentments towards Beowyn deeper). His ability to love was so refreshing, and he was an interesting contrast to Sìne in this way.
⤷ Beowyn: Oh...Owyn. What happened to you in this book, buddy? You had some excellent one liners, and at times your carefree cockiness peeked out, but you spent so much of this book being a morose sad sack. You're also a terrible listener who takes too long to see the point, which was disappointing. You can understand and acknowledge someone else's point of view, even if you disagree with it. Don't be willfully obtuse and veer around the issue that was stated to you by every single other character in the story. How could you look in her face, see that pain, and not know that Éorik was going to pick up the pieces, and you'd be farther away from what you wanted than you started? I had hoped for some more depth to be given to Beowyn. He's still enjoyable after the angst is cleared up, but he felt unfinished. Why Sìne is never cleared up. What did you see in her? Especially with the repeated abuses aimed at him?
It was really interesting to see how Beowyn craves love, but he doesn't understand what it truly is and how to nurture it.
⤷ Lumen and her Ra: They're all back in this story, though only Lumen has any significant visibility. Her three mates are really background noise and convenient people to pass children along to or act as bodyguards when needed. I would have liked to have seen more of how those three are handling their adjustment to living with Lumen. Lumen is still...Lumen. She still makes impulsive decisions that blow up in her face, but compared to the train wreck that is Sìne, she seems downright mature. She still likes to meddle. Again, it often blows up with unintended consequences, but the girl really does try, doesn't she? It was hard to see her struggle with her mental health related to all of the continued Big Events directly connected to her abduction and rescue.
⤷ Clan Grae: these characters are all a delight and go a long way to saving the story. How could you not love them, their antics, and their willingness to embrace the unknown? To see them thrive on a new planet was satisfying. Weird Alien Custom? No problem. They accepted it and moved forward.
Plot:
As previously stated, the plot line to this book was muddied most of the time. It was lost in so many unnecessary words while creating relationship angst that would derail the story. It would peek in to say hello once in a while, get lost again, but the final 10% is where the plot line was found and stuck around. There isn't a lot of action plot to be had in ThunderClaw until the lead into the next book. And. Hooboy. Then it's a whirlwind and furious. Don't those Azteka Horde guys sound like real sweethearts?
This book read and felt like too many ideas without developing them fully. Again... this felt like a rougher version of the story than was intended.
So it seems like I really hated this book, eh? Did I like anything about it?
Themes:
Though still rough, ThunderClaw's strength lies in what it has to say about love (all kinds, not just romantic) and all it entails. Acceptance heavily played into this story. Can you love someone without accepting them? How do you get someone to accept and claim you? Why are we able to accept some people and not others? What personal prejudices and road blocks prevent us from accepting someone else? Why is our acceptance conditional for some but not for others? How much awful are you willing to accept and love someone regardless?
If you want to think about and chew on love, jealousy, loyalty, trust, family... all the ties that bind us... this is an interesting read, even in its disappointing form. It does also give one pause to consider the barriers we create and willful stubbornness, how we limit ourselves in the name of safety and protection.
The bones of this story are good; it wasn't fleshed out fully.
Non-story factors that affected my decision:
⤷ Where on earth was the editor for this one? If it hasn't already been harped on enough in other reviews, this is rife with typos, homonym errors (often in the same sentence where the word would be in the correct form once, then incorrect the next time. I...wut?!), extra/missing words, and incorrect character names given for who is being described in some sections. There was even one baffling error which should have been the main character's name and there was a random nonsense name instead. It was really frustrating to be forced to go back or reread something 3+ times to figure out what the intended meaning is. I would just begin to enjoy the story again and be forced to retreat and decipher. More than a couple dozen times. I just. UGH. Anyone playing a drinking game to this would have died of alcohol poisoning before discovering them all. I accept that all indie-published works will have at least a few typos, but this was by far the worst I have encountered.
Some reviews conjecture this work was rushed out after a missed deadline. Based on evidence in the text, I suspect this is accurate. This looked and felt more like a first draft than the fully finished product. The editing ball was dropped. It's not polished.
⤷ Related: this book needed some serious trimming/editing of length. There are a lot of superfluous words just filling space (and someone got thesaurus happy and made a lot of odd word choices when it should have been kept simple). I suspect 25-30% could be trimmed out without loss of plot or meaning to the story. There's even one short, confusing portion of a chapter from the point of view of a previously-unknown character, adds nothing to the story, and confuses the rest of the chapter. The story line in this work is muddied at the best of times. Again, it felt like an early draft that was not given the polishing and time needed to make it shine.
Characters:
It always comes down to characters with me, doesn't it?
⤷ Sìne: let's get our heroine out of the way first, since this is usually the character that makes or breaks a story for me. For the first 75% of the book, I did not care for Sìne. At all. A lot of this is simply she's just too damn young (not to mention that math errors that gave me a headache while trying to puzzle out--how does a 21 year old have a 3 year old she gave birth to when she was 19? Another editing error? Was she supposed to be 22? Was there an earlier decision to have her be a younger mother but that part was flubbed up? Which is it?), and my patience for young characters is decreasing exponentially the older I get. I mostly avoid YA because Sullen Teens are not my bag. And Sìne is bratty. Incredibly sullen. Prone to drama. Knowingly acts like an asshole for the sake of it. Feels entitled to being met "halfway" even though she's nearly 100% in the wrong. Almost all interactions with Beowyn can be envisioned ending with her slamming her bedroom door while she shrieks that she hates him. She simply has a terrible personality... and I could not see the hidden strength or depth that is supposed to be there. That light never shone in a way that I could see.
Once the stupid (and pointlessly drawn out) relationship main conflict is sorted out, she's easier to deal with. She stops acting out so badly and mellows.
Her cynicism felt really icky and tacky at times. Her initial reason for going with Beowyn was... understandable but not admirable. Especially when she had zero intention of reciprocating. She's hard to like. Even more difficult to respect. I'm not sure how many times I can stress this. I probably could have forgiven her if she wasn't so dead set on grinding her heel into Beowyn's heart over and over. For most of the book. In increasingly cruel ways. It hurt to see a character who is usually so open and carefree repeatedly wounded after putting himself out there. To see him driven to jealousy--given how his species is--was heart breaking. If you're going to make a deal, keep up your end of it, girl.
Her Big Hurt backstory is so... boring and melodramatic to the point of eye rolling. One bad relationship over the duration of one year and she becomes a shriveled husk of a woman at 19 and locks herself away forever? The poverty she and Fergie were living in made for a more believable hurt than her ex. Her short life hadn't been amazing up until that point; most people's have not. I would have hoped all of the hurts and disappointments in her life would have taught her to be compassionate and kind--especially when hearts are involved. Instead she created and fostered resentments to justify her actions.
Her positives? Uh. Hmmm. She was a decent-ish friend to Lumen when she wasn't being petty and jealous. In fact, she made me like Lumen, who I previously disliked. That's how unlikable Sìne is. And she was able to love Éorik in a way that he deserved, which made me happy with her. And she managed to not totally bork things up as Great Lady for the whole day (?) she acted in that capacity. OK. And after she stopped creating reasons to be angry at Beowyn and accept their relationship (and got her way about a cultural issue she refused to accept. SIGH), she is a decent third in that triad.
Her insecurities are easy to sympathize with, even if maddening. I doubt many of us haven't been stuck with many of the same ones. Her inability to stop comparing herself to Lumen (or literally any member of Beowyn's 400 person harem) and making herself resentful and angry was believable. She could dig in and create a grudge where none previously existed.
⤷ Éorik: Oh, Éorik, you were my favorite character in Venomous, and I continue to love you in this book. Éorik was written with a nice balance of flaws and admirable traits. He's so breath-takingly loyal to both of his mates. (Not a spoiler, given the blurb chooses to reveal that tidbit.) The reason he could not previously make his big confession to Beowyn never really made sense. His willingness to sacrifice and make non-conventional decisions to try and make things easier for Sìne was admirable (even if those choices unintentionally made Sìne's resentments towards Beowyn deeper). His ability to love was so refreshing, and he was an interesting contrast to Sìne in this way.
⤷ Beowyn: Oh...Owyn. What happened to you in this book, buddy? You had some excellent one liners, and at times your carefree cockiness peeked out, but you spent so much of this book being a morose sad sack. You're also a terrible listener who takes too long to see the point, which was disappointing. You can understand and acknowledge someone else's point of view, even if you disagree with it. Don't be willfully obtuse and veer around the issue that was stated to you by every single other character in the story. How could you look in her face, see that pain, and not know that Éorik was going to pick up the pieces, and you'd be farther away from what you wanted than you started? I had hoped for some more depth to be given to Beowyn. He's still enjoyable after the angst is cleared up, but he felt unfinished. Why Sìne is never cleared up. What did you see in her? Especially with the repeated abuses aimed at him?
It was really interesting to see how Beowyn craves love, but he doesn't understand what it truly is and how to nurture it.
⤷ Lumen and her Ra: They're all back in this story, though only Lumen has any significant visibility. Her three mates are really background noise and convenient people to pass children along to or act as bodyguards when needed. I would have liked to have seen more of how those three are handling their adjustment to living with Lumen. Lumen is still...Lumen. She still makes impulsive decisions that blow up in her face, but compared to the train wreck that is Sìne, she seems downright mature. She still likes to meddle. Again, it often blows up with unintended consequences, but the girl really does try, doesn't she? It was hard to see her struggle with her mental health related to all of the continued Big Events directly connected to her abduction and rescue.
⤷ Clan Grae: these characters are all a delight and go a long way to saving the story. How could you not love them, their antics, and their willingness to embrace the unknown? To see them thrive on a new planet was satisfying. Weird Alien Custom? No problem. They accepted it and moved forward.
Plot:
As previously stated, the plot line to this book was muddied most of the time. It was lost in so many unnecessary words while creating relationship angst that would derail the story. It would peek in to say hello once in a while, get lost again, but the final 10% is where the plot line was found and stuck around. There isn't a lot of action plot to be had in ThunderClaw until the lead into the next book. And. Hooboy. Then it's a whirlwind and furious. Don't those Azteka Horde guys sound like real sweethearts?
This book read and felt like too many ideas without developing them fully. Again... this felt like a rougher version of the story than was intended.
So it seems like I really hated this book, eh? Did I like anything about it?
Themes:
Though still rough, ThunderClaw's strength lies in what it has to say about love (all kinds, not just romantic) and all it entails. Acceptance heavily played into this story. Can you love someone without accepting them? How do you get someone to accept and claim you? Why are we able to accept some people and not others? What personal prejudices and road blocks prevent us from accepting someone else? Why is our acceptance conditional for some but not for others? How much awful are you willing to accept and love someone regardless?
If you want to think about and chew on love, jealousy, loyalty, trust, family... all the ties that bind us... this is an interesting read, even in its disappointing form. It does also give one pause to consider the barriers we create and willful stubbornness, how we limit ourselves in the name of safety and protection.
The bones of this story are good; it wasn't fleshed out fully.
July 28, 2018
This is so stupid. Her family just sees an alien save her then they are all “He’s wonderful, so what if he has a harem? So what if we just tried to defend her from him just minutes ago? He is perfect for her. She is obviously attracted to them after their first meeting of which they broke into her house and she ran from them. He can’t be anything like her ex. I mean, he just saved her from falling to her death off a cliff, by all means they should get married. Lets all go to an alien planet together! He’s obviously an alien but we got over it as soon as we saw him. Oh did he just say she will be a concubine? How dar- oh whatever he’s perfect for her.”
It’s insta love. It’s stupid. I hate it. I only came for Beowyn, because he was the only character who I actually liked from the last book. I HATE THIS BOOK. Only after reading 10% of it I had to stop, I was getting too angry. IT IS AWFUL! I disliked the last book because of the stupidity and meanness of Lumen. With this book I was getting into it because of her trying to get away from Beowyn and I thought it might be a slow burn of her family and her learning to accept them. But NO. It was instant acceptance. Instant attraction. No reservations for anything happening. Just a second of terror from her before randomly stroking his horns after they JUST BROKE INTO HER HOME!! Sure lets get married and go to your planet. You’re attractive and therefore you must be nothing like my ex. Her one cousin has reservations for only a few minute before joining the rest of the family to convince her to go to his planet and become his #1 concubine.
Poo on this book. Her mother was a hamster and her father smells of elderberries!
It’s insta love. It’s stupid. I hate it. I only came for Beowyn, because he was the only character who I actually liked from the last book. I HATE THIS BOOK. Only after reading 10% of it I had to stop, I was getting too angry. IT IS AWFUL! I disliked the last book because of the stupidity and meanness of Lumen. With this book I was getting into it because of her trying to get away from Beowyn and I thought it might be a slow burn of her family and her learning to accept them. But NO. It was instant acceptance. Instant attraction. No reservations for anything happening. Just a second of terror from her before randomly stroking his horns after they JUST BROKE INTO HER HOME!! Sure lets get married and go to your planet. You’re attractive and therefore you must be nothing like my ex. Her one cousin has reservations for only a few minute before joining the rest of the family to convince her to go to his planet and become his #1 concubine.
Poo on this book. Her mother was a hamster and her father smells of elderberries!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 30, 2019
Again, lots of typos in the e-book.
This one gave the characters more time to get to know each other and develop their relationship than Venomous did. It had more exposition and world-building, and up to over 50% the characters don't get up close and personal. This I liked.
On the other hand, in this book the heroine is so whiny, she forces everyone to go on and on comforting her, inventing new ways to promise the world will always give her what she wants from that day forward. She keeps getting flashbacks about her traumatic past - getting dumped by a boyfriend who didn't love her back. I get it, it's unpleasant, most of us have been there. But giving her PTSD because of it is too much. She was acting stupid and annoyed me most of the time.
Again, the alien menage thing was a shock to the senses. In a good way? In a bad way? In a confusing way mostly. The inhumanness creeped me out TBH.
But the author set up the third book in an intriguing way, so I might pick it up when it comes out, despite having issues with the previous two.
This one gave the characters more time to get to know each other and develop their relationship than Venomous did. It had more exposition and world-building, and up to over 50% the characters don't get up close and personal. This I liked.
On the other hand, in this book the heroine is so whiny, she forces everyone to go on and on comforting her, inventing new ways to promise the world will always give her what she wants from that day forward. She keeps getting flashbacks about her traumatic past - getting dumped by a boyfriend who didn't love her back. I get it, it's unpleasant, most of us have been there. But giving her PTSD because of it is too much. She was acting stupid and annoyed me most of the time.
Again, the alien menage thing was a shock to the senses. In a good way? In a bad way? In a confusing way mostly. The inhumanness creeped me out TBH.
But the author set up the third book in an intriguing way, so I might pick it up when it comes out, despite having issues with the previous two.
February 11, 2017
I dont know , where should I start. I think I hate Pine, so whiny so selfish so idiot. If this book didn't have orin or great alpha I wouldn't give 2 stars, only because of those 2 and secondary characters I am giving 2 stars. Pine wasn't a great lady at all, bad mother, like I said 75% of the book she act selfishly and IMO she hurts Great Alpha every time she opens her mouth. On first book Lumen resisted Fiercly but didn't hurt him, told him she needed time. But Pine,,, o my god I wanted smack the shit out of her.. She sleeps with Orin so fast, lust after him and acts like this side of their culture all normal for her and defends it you wouldn't belive,but rest of their culture bad bad for her. She is a spoiled idiot. I thought just fuck it, dont need to read this, but manage to finish only because their world and what comes next. I skip trough Pines whine and shit many time, I recommend to other do the same, you won't miss anything.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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