Betrayed by her family, gryphon shifter Gesa Lionheart strikes out on her own. When she decides to help the local police department deal with minor supernatural offenders, she has no idea it will lead to her relationship with a snarky fae, a sweet human, a sexy fox, and a voluptuous sea creature. Only arrogant, asinine alpha male gryphons have harems. But Gesa was never content to follow rules. Somewhere between finding missing humans and solving shifter murders, this tough gryphon finds herself with her own pride.
Now if they can just survive the demon who owns the town….
Author’s Note: I was tired of reading the same old thing over and over again in reverse harem. Sick of all alpha male and fainting female all the time—and desperate to be able to tell the male characters apart—I tried to infuse some variety into my story. Gesa might not be your cup of tea, and that’s okay—she doesn’t care. Her lovers are as varied in physicality and personality as they are in supernatural race. And the characters all have their own definition of sexuality. I know reverse harem is all about the fantasy, and my fantasy is a bit outside the norm. You’ve been warned.
Story length definitions: Flash fiction: 200-2,000 words Short story: 1,500-7,500 words Novelette: 7,500-15,000 words Novella: 15,000-40,000 words Novel: 50,000 words and up. *Gesa’s Menagerie books are novellas of between 30,000-40,000 words. *This set contains books 1-3 of the series and is 94,000 words (and that does not include any "fluff" or previews at the end). *This is a series. There will be unresolved plot threads at times/ occasional cliff hangers. *Do NOT read this series if you are easily offended. Contains: mentions of past trauma/rape, adult language (that’s cursing kids, lots of it), and sexual content (including male/female, male/male, female/female, male/male/female, female/female/male and any other combination you can think of. Oh, and probably some tentacles and diphallia).
Sometimes our greatest strengths come from our deepest challenges. I write magic and romance, starring a cast of creatures with feathers, fins, and teeth. My books include paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and fantasy romance--with the occasional steampunk or alien story thrown in just for kicks. My pan heart firmly believes love is love, so you'll see straight, LGBTQIA, monogamous, reverse harem, and poly relationships in my work. My favorite theme is overcoming our inner demons and the insecurities that hold us back. I also advocate for self-development and mental health and dabble in non-fiction as time allows. I love the outdoors and still hope to be abducted by fae! (I may have more in common with my characters than I care to admit.)
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This was fun - and funny. With lots of fantasy characters populating the human world, our fearless gryphon meets with fae, mages, shifters, and one clever human to combat petty crimes and mega crimelords. This is written as a serial with overlapping plot lines resulting in a never-ending tale. Don't be annoyed by the cliff-hangers, as many episodes have been written. This is one long shaggy dog story. It also includes lots of flirting and creative sex scenes among the growing team of misfits and outcasts bond together.
Excellent start to the series! I’m so excited to start another series by this author - especially a long and completed one! I believe there’s 9 books and some shorts too. We start right off the bat with great action, and a quick paced story of our leading lady Gesa on the case! I love this character, and the challenge of Gesa being a big strong woman (and a shifter!) as well as a self conscious, sometimes vulnerable woman (rarely, but her squishy side is there!). We meet our first love interest (of many, I assume, based on the series premise, but our one and only for this book). Oisin is such a fun character! I love him and his snarky personality, and the way that, like Gesa, that attitude is hiding some deep hurt and mystery. There’s first person perspective from Gesa, and third person perspective for Oisin, which is interesting! I think I like it. Ooh also, lots of steam, but only a little spice in this book before it fades to black. Having read more by this author, I’m hoping we get more on page spice in the other books, because I know they’re excellent at it! I want more 🌶️s!! Book 1 wraps our current case, and leaves our characters in an exciting place. No cliffhanger, but I’m so excited to continue right onto the next book! I would say these are novella style, quicker reads, so be sure to stock up on the series before you start; you’ll want to devour them and have them at the ready!
PS - if you’re interested in the author, read this before the Gods and Demons series, for the best experience. I did it the other way, and while it was okay for those characters, I did spoil some things for myself (like who’s in the group, who had what powers, etc.).
Book 2: Heart of the Pride
Woohoo, we have spice! It’s more than book 1, and we get our three lovebirds together even. It’s still a little fade to gray, not quite fade to black, and it matches with the fast paced storytelling. I personally would appreciate more on page details, but I like that the author can write variety (I’ve read other works by Kaye Draper, some with a lot more detail and others that are more like this one, on the sweet side). There’s a tough case with - trigger warning - animal stuff, the bad kind, happening. We don’t get too much on page details of that, thank goodness, but still the theme is a heavier one in this book. We get some more Derek F’ing White action and meet a new lady friend…?! Then we’re off to get distracted… so not a terrible cliffhanger, but oh gosh do I want to see more of our new lady interest!!
Book 3: With Pride
We start this one off with some foxy fortunes, then some great drama before we get two new roommates in the building! I love Hisashi and Kaimana so much. We learn a dark secret about Oisin’s past and Gesa handles it in her unique way. I love the strength of her character - the author did such a good job of making a tough as nails female who’s equally endearing and laughable with her interesting take on emotions. This one ends on a cliffhanger about Gesa’s family, so be prepared to have the next book or compilation ready to go!
Book one, first time finding this series and gave it a go. Kept entertaining me with Gesa's personally and attitude. Like a female meathead. Amusing and will continue reading this even without the smut i like. Book two, flows awesomely from first. Gesa's adds a second harem member and learn more about her fae lover and new case. Like that there's a chapter in each book of the new harem member. Book three, is pretty tame compared to other two but no less awesome. Gesa's currently up to 4 members. Cute cozy reads, finished this set in about 6-7 hours. Can't wait to read more. JL
This book series has an amazing array of different mythical creatures and their cultures, all blended together into the modern worlds. The choice of main setting for the books being a real town and county that is perfectly located and also so unpopulated in real life adds a wonderfully strange suspension of disbelief to this world and its inhabitants. As always Kaye Draper delivers not just the spiciest of sex and romance but also solid plots that are as much "the good parts" as the sex scenes.
Not as good as her “Not Quite” series (IMO), but entertaining enough to keep me waiting till she finishes the series (in audiobook format) so I can buy it in omnibus bundles. It’s been over a year since my last read, so I can’t really do a proper review, but I’ll come back to this when I’ve read them all, I hope. :)
This entire series 1-9 is awesome, I love having new world's, and new characters. Mages, Griffin's ,hedge witch, fae a freaking kracken and so much more. You won't regret this series
Small books altogether but a great box set to read together, they were great books but still waiting for the whole story but that's to be expected:) overall I recommend reading this box set I a! I'm to the next set!
I like the snark and the set up. Each book is a novella, and I promptly read the second one, which gets even better than the first. The spice level is light in the first, but increases over the course of the books. I'm caught by the characters and the story line and have bought Volume 2 to see what happens.