I was raised to believe that I was a warrior witch, someone who made the world a little safer. On my sixteenth birthday, I found out that I'm nothing more than a monster myself - a fae abomination created to protect the queen of the Fallen.
For eight long years I ran from the fae who'd have me take up my place at the queen's side. Then I found him, my light in the darkness. Someone I could trust. Sean was my chance at a normal life. At freedom.
He was the worst of them. He gave me everything I thought I wanted. I gave him my heart, and in turn he sold me to the queen.
The court is a cold and cruel place. There is no kindness for a creature like me. They tried to break me, to make me into one of them. I endured far more darkness and punishment than I'd ever have thought possible. I was lost, broken.
One day they threw me to the wolves. Little did they know that those beautiful creatures were my fated life bonds. Three incredible predators who would take on the world to keep me safe. To see me smile.
The court wanted me to be a monster, a creature forged of blood and shadow. Now, with my life bonds at my side, I will show them just how monstrous I really am.
Fallen is a darkish paranormal reverse harem romance not suitable for sensitive readers. It features a strong heroine, and three devoted men who'd take on the world for their lifebond.
This book was previously called Fallen. The content is exactly the same. Only the cover and title changed.
When I first started this book I thought she would turn into a badass says right in the description that she will show them how monstrous she can be! She's not. The minute she finds her men she turns into a soft dummy. The men tell her what to do and she does it she even says in the book she would be their "anal whore"! Come on! She goes from a badass that kills all her torturers to being a wimp that does anything the men tell her to 30 percent into the book! Would NOT read again anytime soon!!
Loved the plot, but the editing is atrocious. There were paragraphs that made me feel like the writer had English as a second language. Some sections had no lead up, and were there like the sex scene with Bran. I really tried to get past it all, but it made it hard to follow the story. This book was more like a first draft, where ideas were thrown on paper without any explanation or context.
DNFd at 61% in, page 165. I just got too bored. I read the note the author put in the beginning about how writing this book helped her heal from her own abuse, and I’m so happy she found these words healing. I think that’s absolutely fantastic. But I just continually lost interest the longer they stayed away from “court”. Honestly? You can definitely tell that the author was writing therapeutically. The story just kind of fell flat after they left the prison. They’re supposed to be “lifebonds” but I felt like they were more friends/mentors than anything else. Besides anger and pain and a little embarrassment, I didn’t feel any emotion throughout the story. Especially not from the main characters to each other. There’s a lot of scenes and explanations that just felt unnecessary and redundant. Like the scene where Keir goes out and hunts a man for his life essence. That was a whole chapter that felt so boring and unnecessary. It felt like this wasn’t edited, maybe not at all, but I’d Definitely say not enough. Then there was the sex between Bran and Wren. I know that note I mentioned before from the author, mentioned that Wren wouldn’t get any coddling and that she preferred rougher sex because of her trauma, but wow. It wasn’t the roughness that made it feel off to me. I like rough sex. It was the way Wren described Bran’s attitude that made me feel uncomfortable. Bran basically turned into a completely different person and acted so arrogant and uncaring, it felt like another assault. And then nothing happened afterward. No comments from the other guys, nothing. I also didn’t like how they treated her after the incident in the bar. Again. I understand the author mentioned there would be no coddling, but everything between the four of them is so callous and cold. It made it feel like the three guys were very separate from Wren. They all had this camaraderie, they even joked about who got the most women and who satisfied them the most, while Wren was off to the side. It just reinforced my thoughts that they fit better into the friend/mentor category than the mate/lover one. And the time frame is so weird. We go through a couple of months where it’s just them existing and that one sex scene before anything interesting happens again. And then it gets confusing about where I decided to put it down for good. Doing two very opposite things from one sentence to the next in a blink. They do a lot of mundane things that don’t seem to help move the story along, At All. I don’t know. I liked the concept, but I got very bored with the execution. Happy to hear this helped the author deal with her own trauma, though. If nothing else its good to know this book helped someone.
I have been reading reverse harem books for a while now and definately can tell that this was just kind of weak plot. I get all the imprinting and bond stuff, the fae part and all that, but as a whole the book was missing in plot in connection and background of all main characters the ending felt rushed and the relationships among them seemed like barely talked about and not deep enough. It was also full of grammatical mistakes. I read it because there are not that many great reverse harem books out there, but this one was just weak on plot.
Parts of the book I just didn't understand what the lead female was supposed to be. She seemed broken but then wasn't, but then she would be again. I thought this book could maybe have been written better. I literally got to half of the book and wanted to give up. Only reason I finished it was because I do not like to leave books unfinished. Not going to lie there were parts were I would just skip a few pages just to finish faster.
I think the author has a crazy idea about a good story should be about. Violence and gore do nothing. Maybe the author should start the book with a plan/goal for the book. Not sure even that would help this book.
Wren is part Berserker, part cat sith shifter and her sole purpose in life was to serve the Fallen fae queen. Wren wants no part of becoming the queen's lapdog assassin. So, she is held for years in an attempt to break her. It is only by luck that the queen wants her at a fight in the arena. This is when she sees her bondmates for the first time. Seth and Bran are wolves (Seth is the Alpha) and Kier is a cat sith. They fight to win and the boon they ask of the queen is to have Wren delivered to their cell.
Once the men meet Wren she finally finds people who want to protect her not harm her. Wren's character deals with a lot of PTSD due to 2 years of torture. The men (and Wren) win their freedom, so you would think life would be good. But the Fallen queen isn't done with Wren. Wren's existence was kept secret, but now both the dark and light fae know about her, and she cannot live.
With the help of another Fallen fae, Wren is tasked with killing the queen. Her men are central to her being ready to fight the queen and to her own healing.
Bran is sweet and tender with Wren, where Keir is aloof, typical of a cat, and when they come together he and Wren fight for dominance. Seth, well he is the Alpha, so he acts accordingly and dominates Wren. The chemistry between the characters was hot but also not rushed. The men let her initiate their s€xual encounters when she was ready. Seth was the only one who pushed her to the point of breaking, but he had the other men to reign him in.
I liked the premise of this story. I also liked that the story started with Wren's imprisonedment. The character shared enough of her past that you could see how she got where she was. One of the mistakes (IMO) in some fantasy stories is this idea that you have to go back and tell every detail of the character's life before the turning point in their story arc. I appreciated the author's approach with this story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
First things first, the overall style and ability of the author was good. I didn’t find any glaring typos from what I read and the pacing (besides the weird time skip) was great. In the first few chapters I felt a great connection with the female main character and was enjoying it over all. Sadly it didn’t stay that way. Okay so in the very beginning I was rooting for this character. She had fire and rage, is a deadly weapon made to defend a Queen right? But as soon as her mates get involved she just….sputters out. Like I know she was weak from the torture and abuse she went through. I don’t mean physically. I mean it often felt like her mates were beating her down emotionally and it just didn’t sit right with me. You have this potentially bada** female who gets beaten down into a sniveling kitten. The steamy scenes were well written overall but felt like they belonged in a different book than this one. The males tended to blend together. The cat was a d***, the beta was a sweetie and the alpha was a do*che canoe who just kept telling her “no, bad kitty, you’re weak and can’t do anything.” That was the depth level I got to for their character development. Just…it had so much potential but I was sorely disappointed. Even still I plan on looking at other books by this author. I thought the story idea was awesome and that it had so much potential. Maybe the next one is better. (If the author happens to see this. I’m so sorry!)
This was my first book by this author, though it was titled "Feral" on Amazon when I read it.
The character building and development, especially the trauma responses and PTSD of Wren were excellent. I enjoyed watching her grow, develop, and move into a form of acceptance. The author states that she, herself, is a survivor and I think that fact comes out in the way she handles the trauma subject matter.
The world building and relationship building with the men was only okay. I read a lot of fated mate books, so I am used to the insta-love and insta-lust concept. But I would have liked to have seen a bit more personal relationship building between Wren and the men. The author seemed to center that relationship building around either them training her, or them finally having sex. The intimate scenes were...energetic...but not very emotional. That lack of emotional connection between the characters detracted from the story for me.
Feral is an ebook I downloaded from Kindle Unlimited. Right off, the warning in the description says "not for sensitive readers," I would recommend that be upgraded to "trigger warning: torture and abuse" as this poor gal went through hell and was constantly in pain.
That said, I enjoyed the world-building and the characters but after a great start, the story lost momentum in the last half or so. Wren's reaction to abuse and resulting trauma were so realistic, I was cringing through some parts, fully invested in my hopes for her-- in this sense, the writing was excellent. I think my main problem was with the development of the relationships when you consider the amount of abuse Wren was recovering from.
One scene, a consensual roll-play rape scenario felt too unrealistic and inappropriate--what guy would think this was okay if he knew what she'd gone through? My 3.5 rating is rounded up because I loved the first half so much.
I liked Wren, the guys were interesting. Wren has been tortured for years in an effort to force her to do what the queen wants. Just when it may be the end for her, she finds her mates and might have a way out. Very own handle abuse differently and while some of the terms Wren uses during steamy moments are not my thing, I enjoyed the other parts of the story, I liked that the guys encouraged her to follow her dreams even if they were unconventional. I enjoy Cavenaugh’s writing and will be checking out her other books :)
"At one point the Alpha ties her down, triggering her past abuses, then tells her he’s going to f* (rape) her for hours. He warns her if she makes any noises or struggles, she will be punished." The part this person is talking about was not rape, more like a sex game 🙄 you would only think of it as rape if you were only into vanilla sex(obviously my opinion here). The girl was into it so its not rape. I normally dont leave responses but I almost didnt read it because of that comment.
I had to nope out after that steamy scene. Just wtf. Went from feeling very clinical to very trashy. Went on for what felt like a long time even when I tried to skim the rest of it. Not much actual relationship development beforehand either so it felt a bit forced to me. Otherwise the book seemed okay. Interesting premise but I just can't make myself continue after that scene. I don't normally review when I DNF, but I felt a little blindsided by the way that scene was written and felt others might appreciate the heads up.
This book was full of darkness and sexiness! Having experienced unimaginable trauma and torture, the very last thing Wren ever expects to find is her 3 lifebonds. The three men created just for her. As much as she'd like to pretend the last year never happened and move on with her life with her mates, it's not as easy as she hoped it'd be, especially with enemies coming at them from every direction.
I'm a child abuse survivor. I also watched my mom be abused. Over half my life later and the PTSD still controls me. Books like this that show a woman who is strong overcoming the trauma that happened to her are amazing in helping me feel that I can grow and live. We are not still stuck there, no matter what our PTSD seems to think. Thank you Skye Cavanagh for writing this.
A lot of this story I just didn't vibe with. I thought the characters were pretty flat and the story was all over the place. I didn't see any romance at all. They just claimed each other as mates, then had sex. I also felt like i was missing a bunch of information. Like there was a previous book I didn't read, which made this book lack a certain level of depth. This book had good potential, it just feel pretty short. Kinda disappointed.
Wren has been a prisoner of the Fae Queen for a year. She has been tortured the whole time. She is taken from her cell to watch a battle. The three shifters in the arena know she is their mate as soon as they see her. They must now find a way to escape the Queens court and take Wren with them. This book has some dark themes and Wren suffers from PTSD, this is all handled well. I look forward to reading more by this author.
I have been so excited for this release!! The blurb had me hooked I knew I had to pre order it!!
Skye Cavanagh wove this dark and delicious story that absolutely blew me away! She sucked me in and I was on the edge of my seat for most of it! With deep and dark also came the healing!!
I will not post spoilers but this book was absolutely amazing!
I love the eloquent descriptions of very difficult emotions. I have read other books that gave vague descriptions of panic and then used the word PTSD, over and over. Skye paints a picture of of what it's like to live with something after your life has been completely changed, and move forward!
The RH and sexy parts were also done very nicely. ❤
This book started out really strong for me but went down hill the futher I got into the book. The story went right were I expected it to go with nothing exciting or extra and the characters were one dimensional and a little boring. The main character was supposed to be this powerful abomination but I didn't get that feeling at all.
This definitely not a light, happy story but it's so well written that you are sucked in from the first page. I have a harder time with darker stories and try to avoid them because they take me to places and memories that I don't want to revisit, but I didn't have that experience with this story, so you should definitely give it a read!
This is an amazing book, I love how genuine their reactions are in every situation and how the lasting trauma from their pasts isn't tip-toed around, but embraced. The panic attacks and fear are real, and they don't just disappear once you're happy and it made this story so realistic and enjoyable to read. I absolutely loved their journey.
I really enjoyed this book and loved the characters and how they came together. I am glad that everything worked out for them and they got back at the queen who mistreated them. I would love to see more on them just to see how their lives are going and if they had any kids.
I know there were some reviews that had concerns of non-con sex scenes, but I did not feel that they were rape, at all. In fact I loved everything about this book and love all three of her men and how much they obviously cared for her. I’m so glad I found this author and cannot wait to read more from her.
Good read, typos and missing words and info. I felt like there could have been so much more. I don’t know if there is a second book, if not that sucks. But we don’t even read when they say tell each other they love them, it’s just told to us. Some unanswered questions. I will probably read more from this author.
Took a while to get there but the steam finally came....came.hehehe. anyways, enraptured in the story. I like the main character. She is strong and weak at the same time and knows it. Glad they got their HEA.
So the story starts out well, interesting premise, then it fast forwards...granted time to heal given from the torture, but the sex scenes were off. Brutal in some cases with the explanation it was shifter sex. It was Judy strange. Not hot. And tons of typos.
I liked this book and would probably read it again. There were aspects that felt like it could have been more fleshed out in terms of plot and details. But overall it was good read.
Main character shows she can take it and still be strong. Good book and I don’t want to quit reading it until I knew what happened next. Wren was a kick ass main. Would read from this author again