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Temptation Unleashed
Something wild this way comes… Once a powerful, practicing Wiccan, Kira Douglas has reluctantly moved to wild and beautiful Sedona, Arizona for only one reason—assume custody of her dead sister’s daughter. She immediately runs into an obstacle. The child’s uncle, the disturbingly sexy Aiden Calhoun, refuses to give her up. Aiden has good reason for not allowing Kira custody of his precious niece. The child is half witch, half shapeshifter. Allowing her to take the girl could expose the family’s shapeshifting secret he has spent a lifetime protecting. Their instant attraction isn’t just an inconvenient temptation. It could put his entire family in danger. But an evil force is re-emerging, bent on destroying everything they know and love. The only way to survive is to put all differences aside. And overcome the nightmare that once broke Kira’s faith. This title has been revised and expanded from its previously published version.
272 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 2, 2008
3 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Kari Thomas
21 books15 followersKari Thomas is a multi-published author, writing in the Paranormal Romance genre with 9 published books and 4 Shorts. She loves ALL the Romance genres --so she readily admits to being a Book-A-Holic that cant stop buying books!
With a Pirate gg-grandfather, a Royal Coat of Arms, several Psychics, and a Wiccan or two, her family background provides her with alot of Plot ideas!
With a Pirate gg-grandfather, a Royal Coat of Arms, several Psychics, and a Wiccan or two, her family background provides her with alot of Plot ideas!
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 5, 2013
Rating: 3.75 rounded up to 4
The blurb is already so well written that I will skip trying to summarize this story lest I sound repetitive. Instead, I will just launch into my review.
This story wasn’t new or different, but what it was was well told. Once I flipped the first page, I couldn’t stop reading until I was finished. The story was well paced that it established the impending conflict between the two main characters early on. The main characters displayed a range of emotions from start to finish which left me with the feeling that they were well fleshed out. In terms of character development, I thought Kira got stuck a little too long in her phobia of wild animals. Despite the fact that she had many close encounters with wild animals that never did her any harm, I found the constant paralysis and fainting spells a little annoying. As a very powerful witch (supposedly), she was too skittish for my taste, and I thought that held her back. Another minus point, and I have to agree with her uncle on this, she really didn’t pick up on the big secret; not even an inkling. I don’t know, I just found her nice. Nothing more, nothing less. Predictably, she has a defining moment during the climax of the story, and that’s when I felt she had transitioned from a young lady to a woman. Aiden was a very strong character; atypical alpha male with a hint of darkness about him. He exuded danger and passion in spades, but he was also very believable. I expected his reluctance to trust Kira to take a long time, even if his mind was often clouded by lust, anger and uncertainty. Aiden’s anger did make him act like a jerk a few times, so he wasn’t perfect by any means.
Together, I thought they had great chemistry, in terms of sexual tension. Though I didn’t find her a very strong character, I suppose she could be seen as the light to his darkness or opposites attract. What I enjoyed the most about these two was the bickering they did to conceal their mutual attraction. There was serious dialogue that was nicely mixed with humor.
The little witch had him growling more since she had barreled into their lives than he could ever remember doing before. Warning growls, angry growls, frustrated growls, irritated growls.
Hungry growls.
A major part of their dynamic was the constant push and pull. Aiden wanted her, but didn’t want to want her because she was a witch. Kira wanted Aiden too, but her inexperience didn’t help her to see through his mood swings.
The supporting characters were a nice addition and never felt like a distraction. At the moment I’m particularly intrigued by Lena and Gavin. There were some hints that there may have been something brewing between them. I would really like to hear more about them. If the author writes a second book, I hope it will be their story.
Overall I really did enjoy this story. Some areas were really predictable, but I was still entertained. Would I read more from this author? Absolutely.
Disclaimer: I received a review copy from the author via ABG Reads Book Tours in exchange for an honest review.
April 6, 2013
Title: Temptation Unleashed
Author: Kari Thomas
Rating: 3.75 out of 5 Stars
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Blurb
Something wild this way comes. Once a powerful, practicing Wiccan, Kira Douglas has reluctantly moved to wild and beautiful Sedona, Arizona for only one reason-assume custody of her dead sister’s daughter. She immediately runs into an obstacle. The child’s uncle, the disturbingly sexy Aiden Calhoun, refuses to give her up. Aiden has good reason for not allowing Kira custody of his precious niece. The child is half witch, half shapeshifter. Allowing her to take the girl could expose the family’s shapeshifting secret he has spent a lifetime protecting. Their instant attraction isn’t just an inconvenient temptation. It could put his entire family in danger. But an evil force is re-emerging, bent on destroying everything they know and love. The only way to survive is to put all differences aside. And overcome the nightmare that once broke Kira’s faith. This title has been revised and expanded from its previously published version. Warning: This book contains explicit, howling-under-the-desert-moon love scenes and some wash-your-mouth-out-with-soap language.
Review
In the book Temptation Unleashed by Kari Thomas, the Red Rock Country of central Arizona is a place of magical power, and there on that sacred land resides a race of animal shifters. They are a secretive lot who would rather live apart from the mundane world than in it, as most prefer their animal forms to that of their human ones. Life is good for them and their families; they have enough land to live on, and it’s rugged, natural protection keeps their secrets–that was until one of their number, a member of the leading family, decided to fall in love and marry a witch. Now their entire clan is reeling from the murder-suicide of the witch and her husband. A murder-suicide would be devastating in any community but here the witch used black magic to kill her husband, the shifter, and herself. Evil has come to the sacred land of Sedona, not just a sleepy tourist town, but one of great spiritual properties and a majestic beauty. The couple has left behind a beautiful little daughter, one who the shifters will do anything to protect from the evil that now taints the area.
Enter the sister of the witch, Kira Douglas, a transplant from Louisiana. She has moved to Sedona for one purpose–to gain custody of her estranged sister’s daughter. Kira does have local family; her uncle is a doctor, and his daughter owns a local magic shop. Well the leader of the shifters, Aidan Calhoun, and the brother of the victim might have a thing or twenty to say about that. He hates and fears magic, even more so that the black variety took his brother’s life. Plus, he has secrets to protect and no “little witch” is going to get in the way of him protecting them. This sets the backdrop to a tale of a family drama with paranormal elements.
I grew up in Arizona and spent years hiking and traveling around the Sedona area. Yes, I can believe that an entire group of people could hide in the area without being discovered. The terrain around Sedona is vast, and anything could hide in plain sight. The story premise was engaging and fun, but knowing who the bad guy was from the beginning made this more of a family drama romance than a paranormal book. I wish the author would have delved deeper into the shifter community, because as a reader, I never really got a sense of how large the community was. The book had an interesting plot line, but I wish Ms. Thomas would have expanded on it more. The hatred of magic by Aiden, the hero of the story, was a little hard to believe… the dude is magic. He is just using magic as an excuse to keep the child in his custody and keep the family secrets, and to an extent, to protect his heart.
The characters were likable, and it was an enjoyable book; I do recommend it
Author: Kari Thomas
Rating: 3.75 out of 5 Stars
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Blurb
Something wild this way comes. Once a powerful, practicing Wiccan, Kira Douglas has reluctantly moved to wild and beautiful Sedona, Arizona for only one reason-assume custody of her dead sister’s daughter. She immediately runs into an obstacle. The child’s uncle, the disturbingly sexy Aiden Calhoun, refuses to give her up. Aiden has good reason for not allowing Kira custody of his precious niece. The child is half witch, half shapeshifter. Allowing her to take the girl could expose the family’s shapeshifting secret he has spent a lifetime protecting. Their instant attraction isn’t just an inconvenient temptation. It could put his entire family in danger. But an evil force is re-emerging, bent on destroying everything they know and love. The only way to survive is to put all differences aside. And overcome the nightmare that once broke Kira’s faith. This title has been revised and expanded from its previously published version. Warning: This book contains explicit, howling-under-the-desert-moon love scenes and some wash-your-mouth-out-with-soap language.
Review
In the book Temptation Unleashed by Kari Thomas, the Red Rock Country of central Arizona is a place of magical power, and there on that sacred land resides a race of animal shifters. They are a secretive lot who would rather live apart from the mundane world than in it, as most prefer their animal forms to that of their human ones. Life is good for them and their families; they have enough land to live on, and it’s rugged, natural protection keeps their secrets–that was until one of their number, a member of the leading family, decided to fall in love and marry a witch. Now their entire clan is reeling from the murder-suicide of the witch and her husband. A murder-suicide would be devastating in any community but here the witch used black magic to kill her husband, the shifter, and herself. Evil has come to the sacred land of Sedona, not just a sleepy tourist town, but one of great spiritual properties and a majestic beauty. The couple has left behind a beautiful little daughter, one who the shifters will do anything to protect from the evil that now taints the area.
Enter the sister of the witch, Kira Douglas, a transplant from Louisiana. She has moved to Sedona for one purpose–to gain custody of her estranged sister’s daughter. Kira does have local family; her uncle is a doctor, and his daughter owns a local magic shop. Well the leader of the shifters, Aidan Calhoun, and the brother of the victim might have a thing or twenty to say about that. He hates and fears magic, even more so that the black variety took his brother’s life. Plus, he has secrets to protect and no “little witch” is going to get in the way of him protecting them. This sets the backdrop to a tale of a family drama with paranormal elements.
I grew up in Arizona and spent years hiking and traveling around the Sedona area. Yes, I can believe that an entire group of people could hide in the area without being discovered. The terrain around Sedona is vast, and anything could hide in plain sight. The story premise was engaging and fun, but knowing who the bad guy was from the beginning made this more of a family drama romance than a paranormal book. I wish the author would have delved deeper into the shifter community, because as a reader, I never really got a sense of how large the community was. The book had an interesting plot line, but I wish Ms. Thomas would have expanded on it more. The hatred of magic by Aiden, the hero of the story, was a little hard to believe… the dude is magic. He is just using magic as an excuse to keep the child in his custody and keep the family secrets, and to an extent, to protect his heart.
The characters were likable, and it was an enjoyable book; I do recommend it
May 5, 2013
Original review here: http://offbeatvagabond.blogspot.com/2013/04/temptation-unleashed-blog-tour-book.html
Temptation Unleashed is a story about a were-cougar named Aiden. He is suffering because his sister-in-law, Sonia, killed his brother Kyle and herself. She is a witch and it seems she was involved in some dark magic that destroyed his brother and has ruined his family. But the one bright side is his niece Marissa who has a secret they all must hide. Aiden is a cougar. His entire family are shapeshifters and Marissa has the power as well. One problem is Sonia's sister, Kira. Aiden obviously doesn't trust her, but he is also attracted to her. She is also a witch and thinks she might do anything to get custody of Marissa. But Kira doesn't seem to know about him and his kind. Not only does he love their niece, but letting her be with Kira would expose their secret. But that is the least of their problems. Something seems to be happening to the shapeshifters and they must band together to get to the bottom of it.
Oh now this is the kind of read I love. Such an amazing story. I loved our leading male Aiden. Oh he just oozed pure alpha male. Goodness he was hot. I loved how passionate he was about his family and trying to protect them. He knows he needs to keep their “other” identities secret even though magic is accepted in the world. Kira was a good character as well. She was sweet, but she did have spunk. I love how she was able to stand up against Aiden even though he was intimidating. Another thing I loved was the chemistry between Aiden and Kira. It was a great push and pull between them. I loved their scenes together. To say they were sexy is an understatement.
I loved the side characters as well in this. Lena was a great cousin. I got the feeling she knew about Aiden and his family. I especially had that feeling during the obvious attraction to Aiden's brother Gavin who was a werewolf. There was definitely something between them. I hope we get more. Hopefully in the second book or something. I would really love that. I also loved Aiden and Gavin's sister Riana who was cursed by Sonia. I won't tell you what happened though.
I loved this story of opposites attract and misunderstandings. I felt really bad for Kira given how in the dark she was. She was so out of the picture with her family, she can't believe just how bad things are specifically that her sister killed her husband and herself. She thinks that Sonia's spirit is coming by to tell her to get her child Marissa away from Aiden and his family. They run a wildlife preserve and the “animals” are always in and around the house. She doesn't even know the half of it. I loved where this story goes.
This is definitely one of my favorite reads this year. It is so well written and well paced. I was hooked from page one and I couldn't put it down. Thomas is one hell of a storyteller. This is my first read from her and it definitely won't be my last. I want more of this world and these characters. Highly recommended to any Paranormal Romance fans.
Temptation Unleashed is a story about a were-cougar named Aiden. He is suffering because his sister-in-law, Sonia, killed his brother Kyle and herself. She is a witch and it seems she was involved in some dark magic that destroyed his brother and has ruined his family. But the one bright side is his niece Marissa who has a secret they all must hide. Aiden is a cougar. His entire family are shapeshifters and Marissa has the power as well. One problem is Sonia's sister, Kira. Aiden obviously doesn't trust her, but he is also attracted to her. She is also a witch and thinks she might do anything to get custody of Marissa. But Kira doesn't seem to know about him and his kind. Not only does he love their niece, but letting her be with Kira would expose their secret. But that is the least of their problems. Something seems to be happening to the shapeshifters and they must band together to get to the bottom of it.
Oh now this is the kind of read I love. Such an amazing story. I loved our leading male Aiden. Oh he just oozed pure alpha male. Goodness he was hot. I loved how passionate he was about his family and trying to protect them. He knows he needs to keep their “other” identities secret even though magic is accepted in the world. Kira was a good character as well. She was sweet, but she did have spunk. I love how she was able to stand up against Aiden even though he was intimidating. Another thing I loved was the chemistry between Aiden and Kira. It was a great push and pull between them. I loved their scenes together. To say they were sexy is an understatement.
I loved the side characters as well in this. Lena was a great cousin. I got the feeling she knew about Aiden and his family. I especially had that feeling during the obvious attraction to Aiden's brother Gavin who was a werewolf. There was definitely something between them. I hope we get more. Hopefully in the second book or something. I would really love that. I also loved Aiden and Gavin's sister Riana who was cursed by Sonia. I won't tell you what happened though.
I loved this story of opposites attract and misunderstandings. I felt really bad for Kira given how in the dark she was. She was so out of the picture with her family, she can't believe just how bad things are specifically that her sister killed her husband and herself. She thinks that Sonia's spirit is coming by to tell her to get her child Marissa away from Aiden and his family. They run a wildlife preserve and the “animals” are always in and around the house. She doesn't even know the half of it. I loved where this story goes.
This is definitely one of my favorite reads this year. It is so well written and well paced. I was hooked from page one and I couldn't put it down. Thomas is one hell of a storyteller. This is my first read from her and it definitely won't be my last. I want more of this world and these characters. Highly recommended to any Paranormal Romance fans.
September 11, 2012
The old cliché that opposites attract resonates in Kari Thomas’ short story The Christmas Chapter from Samhain Publishing. Shapeshifter Gavin Calhoun and a headstrong witch, Lena Douglas, do battle only to be attracted to each other’s unwavering passion.
There’s a Hatfield’s and McCoy’s feud, a Montague’s and Capulet’s tension as the Calhoun family of shapeshifters and the Douglas family of witches and sorcerers are at odds with one another. The Calhoun’s son Aiden and the Douglas’ daughter Kira have forged a truce by marrying and having children. Will the Calhoun’s son Gavin and the Douglas’ daughter Lena be able to do the same?
Thomas rallies readers to pull for Gavin and Lena to smoothen out their family’s angst against the other. The two chisel at each other’s defenses and find something neither one anticipated which greatly pleases readers when the outcome is revealed.
There’s a Hatfield’s and McCoy’s feud, a Montague’s and Capulet’s tension as the Calhoun family of shapeshifters and the Douglas family of witches and sorcerers are at odds with one another. The Calhoun’s son Aiden and the Douglas’ daughter Kira have forged a truce by marrying and having children. Will the Calhoun’s son Gavin and the Douglas’ daughter Lena be able to do the same?
Thomas rallies readers to pull for Gavin and Lena to smoothen out their family’s angst against the other. The two chisel at each other’s defenses and find something neither one anticipated which greatly pleases readers when the outcome is revealed.
July 26, 2012
Shapeshifters and witches oh my! I loved it. I didn’t know if I wanted to hit or kiss Aiden. He could be such an ass. I wish there were at least 3 more books. I read the brief epilogues that tell what happen with Gavin, Lena and Raina. I wish they had their own books. I would definitely buy them. Keep up the good work Kari! I will definitely be reading more of your good work!
February 27, 2009
Kari has done it again. Another shifter romance. This one's heroine is a witch and the hero a sexy black panther cat shifter. Watch the steam rises over Sedona.
December 12, 2011
Witchcraft and shifters. Pretty good read!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews