Mary Calmes – House of Maedoc

I recently read Mary Calmes’s House of Maedoc series: His Consort, His Prince, and His Realm. The series follows Jason, a human, as he is thrust into the world of the supernatural. In His Consort, Jason encounters vampyr while helping to save a man that looks like a teenager but is actually a high ranking member of the vampyr Prince’s court. This encounter leads to Jason meeting Prince Varic, his mate. Set mainly in New Orleans, Calmes paints a rich picture of the French Quarter. Her worldbuilding is excellent as she introduces the reader to the world of vampyrs, the political rivalries among the New Orleans vampyrs, and the larger realm of the vampyr monarchy.

His Prince, continues to expand the world by introducing the reader to the vampyr court and the larger world of the vampyrs. It features the twists and turns of court intrigue while Jason, Varic, and their friends try to find who is conspiring to get Jason out of the way. His Realm explores the wider world that the court controls as well as a self-contained realm in Greenland.

Overall, the series was engaging and the worldbuilding is fantastic. I was really drawn into the world as I learned about it alongside Jason. The second book introduces a lot of characters and I had a bit of trouble keeping who’s who separated. I ended up drawing a family tree to visualize it, which is going to stay tucked away in the book for my next read, which is bound to happen. I would definitely read this series again.

Kiki Clark – Tempest

Recently I read Tempest by Kiki Clark, the first book in the Silver Oak Pack series. The book is a MM Romance featuring a panther shifter and an eagle shifter. Set in the same universe as her Kincaid pack series, this book continues the story from The Mobster’s Mate (which I loved). Instead of continuing with Quinten’s pack, we visit his brother, Liam’s pack of cat shifters in Silver Oak, Kansas.

The book picks up the threads of mystery that started in Mobster’s Mate, where a group of people are kidnapping shifters to run experiments and force them to fight in a gladiator style arena. It also deals with the uncertainties of Ore, an eagle shifter, suddenly crashing into the life of Cash, a panther shifter and Enforcer of an insular group of cat shifters. As they grow closer the question of if Ore will be allowed to stay with the pack looms.

Overall, it was a fun read. Clark’s writing has excellent in the few books of hers that I have read so far and I will definitely be reading the rest of the series as it comes out.

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