One Good Book Deserves Another

Genre: Historical Paranormal Romance
Series: Nvengaria, Book 1
Rating: 2.5 Stars
Length: 373 Pages, 5520 Locations
Formats: Mass Market Paperback, Kindle


Practical Penelope Trask was resolved to spinsterhood after jilting two fiances whose habits and desires she found...objectionable. She's quite happy with accepting that lot in life, until Prince Damien of Nvengaria shows up in her quiet little hamlet and claims she's the prophesied princess of his country and destined to be his wife. Prince Damien doesn't particularly believe in prophecies, but he needs to take control of his country after his evil father had run it into the ground and exiled him. Now that his father is dead, his country is being run by Grand Duke Alexander, who keeps sending assassins after him. Knowing his passionate people and understanding their love of magic, he's determined to woo Penelope and bring her back to his people in time for Midsummer - or risk being executed after seeing his people turn against him.

When he meets her, sees her, touches her for the very first time, however, the power of the prophecy is realized and his desire for her is unimaginable. As is hers for him. But there are requirements to fulfill the prophecy first, and Regency England has its own requirements for appropriate behavior. Then there's the assassination attempts and the ticking clock and a myriad of other things pressing down on Penelope and Damien, threatening to keep them apart. Who knew fairy tale romances could be so darn complicated?

Jennifer Ashley had some nifty ideas for Penelope & Prince Charming, but for me, there were more misses than hits. The story premise was okay, with a bit of originality in the prophecy and fairy tale feeling of the piece, but the pacing of the story was inconsistent, most notably with a slow and laborious beginning and a conclusion that felt rushed and perfunctory. The lead characters were more like caricatures, exaggerated personalities in exaggerated situations, and I found neither Penelope nor Damien all that likable for the first half of the book. Sometime after that, both the story and the characters smoothed out a bit, Damien and his group of Nvengarians becoming far more realistic and fully realized, and more depth or personality was given to Damien and Penelope both. The difference, though, from one part of the book to the next, was peculiar, even though it improved my appreciation of them as characters.

That being said, there were also several things that I liked very much about the book. The antagonist Alexander was a complex "villain," with his only motivation being his concern for his country and his unyielding belief in his own ability to govern it. He was flawed, but he wasn't some evil bad guy with nefarious world domination on his mind, and while his actions were questionable, I could respect his motivations. I liked how he was with his wife and loved his affection for his son. He was the most pleasantly surprising aspect of the book as a whole. I also grew quite fond of several of the secondary and ancillary characters, and I liked Damien's steadfast devotion to Penelope after his roguish past, even after the prophecy plot line reached its conclusion.

The prophecy itself seemed little more than a handy excuse to shovel a lot of sexual situations into the plot, and those situations did nothing to add to the story or characters, nor did it add any believability. It was, too, a part of the overall inconsistency of the book, as the relationship between Damien and Penelope had a more serious bent with some legitimate depth and complexity towards the end that was absent in the beginning. The sexuality in the book was a bit more unconventional than I'm used to in this genre of romance (in places, not in every sex scene) and while I think there was an effort made to provide plausibility, it just didn't quite work for me. And wow...suddenly I sound like a prude. That's a little personally distressing, actually, so moving on...

I'm glad this wasn't the first Jennifer Ashley book I've read, as I don't know that it would have motivated me to try others titles. Instead, I have read a several other Ashley books and liked them very much. This just wasn't one of my favorites. I still admire her as an author and look forward to more of her work.

Genre: Paranormal Romance
Series: Shifters Unbound, Book 1
Rating: 4 Stars
Formats: Mass Market Paperback, Kindle


Jennifer Ashley has created a complex alternate universe in which shifters - a race of creatures created by the Fae - stepped out of the shadows twenty years ago and revealed themselves to humans. In some countries shifters were feared to such an extent they were hunted down, but in others - like America - they were rounded up and given a choice of execution or a life on human terms, a life which grimly harkens back to how Native Americans were treated: forced to live in reservation-type shifter towns with limited access to education, jobs, money, and amenities that any human with a cell phone, an HDTV, and a laptop take for granted. To further control them they were forced to accept the Collar, imbued by Fae magic and technology, which suppresses their more animalistic instincts and viciously punishes them for any aggression. In those twenty years, there have been no shifter attacks on humans in America; no reason to believe that shifters were any true danger to the human race...until the murder of a human girl and the arrest of her shifter male boyfriend make national headlines.

Defense attorney Kim Fraser is a notorious spitfire in the courtroom. A defender of the innocent. A believer in justice. When she's given the case, she's convinced of her shifter client's innocence and determined to free him. Both horrified and disgusted by the injustice and mishandling of his case, she will stop at nothing to absolve him from guilt, even by entering Shiftertown to interview her client's friends and family and try to secure his alibi. That decision, that trip, sets Kim on a path destined to strip away her preconceptions and reveal the truth about shifters - their customs, their habits, and what secrets they protect and care about the most. With shifter Liam Morissey as her sexy guide and protector, Kim falls further and further into a web of shifter politics and machinations, determined to uncover the secrets and lies, wary of the dangers. And those shifters, one in particular, start becoming more and more important to Kim with every step closer and closer to the wild side.

I really enjoyed this paranormal romance. It is certainly an interesting take on what human reaction would be and what could happen in the aftermath of the "coming out" of the different races of shifters. It is perhaps a sad commentary that I found it to be so realistic. On a brighter note, I loved Kim and Liam (with his delightful blarney) and thought they were very well matched and likable. Liam's family was great, the secondary characters layered and well developed, and I especially enjoyed learning about the structure of the shifter races as the mythos was begun here. There was a satisfying originality to both the AU world and the plot that isn't often found in this sub-genre of romance. The only tiny critical thought I had about the plot is that I felt the development of Kim and Liam's relationship and the world building were so enthralling that the connection between Kim's client and everything else that happened was a little too thin to give the final conflict as much impact as it could've had. That being said, it was a well thought out and realistic conflict that I could buy as a legitimate threat, so I appreciate that as a reader.

There just isn't much else to be critical about in Pride Mates. I really enjoyed it. The only thing that kept this book from being a five star read for me isn't a criticism of the book at all, it's strictly a personal preference. I felt that the prejudice and rampant discrimination, the segregation and willful oppression, and the forced Collaring of the various shifter species was a bit too realistic and immutable for my personal tastes. It's hard to feel totally happy for a couple when the male's whole race is being so grievously subjugated, regardless of the benefits to that race or the strides they've made. I prefer books with issues and conflicts that can be triumphed over as the lead romantic couple comes together and falls in lust/love...but given the condition of the world in Pride Mates, the most depressing aspects of that world aren't something that can be overcome in a book - and maybe not even in a series. Just worked around or adapted to. That's a little sadder a thought than I like to have in my pleasure reading. Still...Pride Mates gets four stars from me, as it both pleased me and saddened me in all the best ways and with a classy, unique style.