Review–Forever Werewolf/Moon Kissed by Michele Hauf

137068666664709

Forever Werewolf and Moon Kissed

by Michele Hauf

Summary: Forever Werewolf - Alexis Conner, princess of the Alpine pack and pureblood werewolf, hides a painful secret-she has never shifted. If she can’t shift, she can’t mate, and so Lexi resigned herself to a lifetime of loneliness. But then a stranger arrives, and Lexi senses that her world will never be the same….
A massive avalanche might be to blame for Trystan Hawkes getting stuck at Castle Wulfsiege, but after one look at Lexi, Trystan is not about to leave. Lexi is strong, smart and incredibly sexy. Not that it matters. Tryst is an omega-the fabled lone wolf. Even more damning is his mixed vampire heritage.
Lexi knows that the vampire blood running through Tryst’s veins makes him off-limits, but what if he’s the one man who can rouse her inner wolf?

Moon Kissed - Escaping from bloodthirsty vampires, Belladonna Reynolds ran straight into the arms of a werewolf. As a man Severo drew her in with his dark good looks; as a beast he astounded her with his insatiable sensual appetite. Whether afraid or aroused, Bella fled to his lair when threatened by an evil monster of the night....Severo tried to keep Bella--his mate--safe from the vampiress who held a malicious desire for revenge against him, but he alone wasn't enough. Now Bella had taken the form of his most cursed enemy. How could he desire the very thing he'd spent his life destroying? And even if he did, what would the werewolf do to Bella on the next full moon?

Review:

1star

Did Not Finish

I received a copy of these books from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Forever Werewolf and Moon Kissed disappointed me a lot. They do one thing really well – demonstrate precisely why I avoid so many adult paranormal romances anymore. I knew this book was an adult paranormal romance when I requested to read it and synopsis of both stories intrigued me. The basic premise of both novels was obvious from the beginning and resembled many other paranormal romances on the surface. Paranormal conflict throws two people together, usually a woman who likes to control her own life and a burly man that is possessive, who connect instantly in a lusty way, explore that connection, discover lust has turned into love and then they explore the paranormal conflict surrounding them. Even after a long break of reading paranormal romances that fit this pattern, it still annoys me that it’s predictable. I don’t like stories that are a plug and play formula like this, but I’m still willing and eager to overlook it if there are qualities to the story that draw me in or interest me. Great writing and character development can turn this “formula” into a wonderful book, but Forever Werewolf and Moon Kissed had neither and that is why I rated it so low. I felt like the author didn’t really “try” in either of these novels. There is little to no development of characters. They just ARE the personality types they are, with no backstory as to why they are that way. All of the characters irked me tremendously because they were such cookie cutter placeholders for the overall paranormal romance formula. The writing felt juvenile and cheesy.

The paranormal conflicts surrounding the characters in both stories were predictable and disappointing as well, which was a shame. I felt like both books were a complete waste of time for me. I’m usually not quite so harsh, but the premise of both novels could have been great if well executed and they fell short and became the annoying regurgitated mess I try and avoid in the novels I read. Nothing irritates me more than a predictable novel that has no other redeeming qualities.

I marked this as a Did Not Finish because skimming through the last half of both books doesn’t count as reading. I usually don’t rate DNFs with stars, but because I was able to get the overall gist of both stories by skimming, I felt I could rate them successfully.

While I wouldn’t recommend this book to others in every day conversation, I think there are other people who would enjoy the stories. Adult paranormal romance has become mostly predictable to me and I have my own issues with it, but I realize the predictable formula writing I spoke of doesn’t bother everyone and might even appeal to some. I think there much better authors in the genre, even those that use the predictable formulas, though.

Labels: