I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
Hunting Season
by
Shelly Laurenston
erotica, paranormal romance in eBook edition that was published by Samhain Publishing on October 2, 2009 and has 272 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include The Mane Event, The Mane Event, The Mane Squeeze, The Mane Attraction, Beast Behaving Badly, Big Bad Beast, Here Kitty, Kitty!, Pack Challenge, Go Fetch!, When He Was Bad, Everlasting Bad BoysS, Bear Meets Girl, Howl for It, Wolf with Benefits, The Unleashing, The Undoing, The Unyielding, Hot and Badgered, In a Badger Way, Badger to the Bone, Breaking Badger, Bite Me, The Undoing, Born to Be Badger
First in The Gathering paranormal romance series revolving around Valkyries, Ravens, Crows, Odin, and Skuld in the Viking pantheon.
My Take
This was fabulous! Not uproariously funny like her Pride and Magnus Pack series, but Laurenston still creates a storyline you can’t resist. Between her horny Ravens and party-lovin’ Crows, Laurenston has created unique characters with extremely individual traits. The Ravens are like a frat boy party 24/7 while the Crows tease, harass, and support each other day in and day out. Each pursues their own careers with some fairly crazy lifestyles.
And I can’t wait to read the second in the series!
The Story
Will Yager has had a hard-on for Neecy Lawrence for years, and this past year, it’s just getting worse. What’s not to love…she’s brutal, hard, and won’t back down for anyone. And Will is fascinated by her tits. So when Neecy shows up at his apartment about some Raven-Crow business, he takes extreme advantage and gets her to agree to do anything and everything he wants for 24 hours. That’s it, it’s all downhill for Neecy from there. She fights the attraction, sure, and Will fights to keep up…uphill that is.
The Characters
While the Ravens and the Crows are on the same side, they are not always allies especially when their mutual objective is sought by their particular patron god/goddess.
The Jersey Crows are…
…all female descendants of those women stolen by Vikings who receive their blue-black wings as they are breathing their last and agree to serve Skuld. The Crows, a.k.a., The Gathering, “look like a big box of crayons” and party on the least excuse. Skuld grants her warriors strength, speed, wings, and talons; individual warriors usually receive a gift unique to them.
Denice “Neecy” Lawrence has a PhD in history and teaches graduate and senior undergrads at the university by day and hunts down bad guys by night. Her special gift from Skuld is the ability to call real ravens and crows to her aid.
Other members of the Crows include Didi Gowan, Connie Vega, Katie Clark, Janelle McKenna, Arri Chang, Rachel, Delia Kim, and Serena.
The Tri-State Ravens are…
…all male direct descendants of Odin’s Elite Guard who are born with their blue-black wings and answer directly to Odin. They perform “rescue missions, help those in need, and sometimes get involved in the politics of gods.
Their leader, Wilhelm “Will” Yager, is a computer geek who, along with Mike Molinski and Tye Ulrich, creates computer games by day and hunt bad guys by night. He’s fallen madly, deeply in love with Neecy Lawrence.
Skuld is one of the Fates, the Veiled One. She rides with the Valkyries when she’s bored; she knows the future, brings the dead back to life to serve as one of her Crows, and believes in wisdom. Originally, she was the one who chose who went on to Valhalla from amongst the dead.
Morgan is one of the original Valkyries…thank god, because the new crop that Odin’s picking up at strip clubs are clueless about fighting and healing.
The Cover and Title
Whoa…I can’t see why Neecy is turning that six-pack down. Incredibly hot male torso with a night-lit, hazy New York City skyline in the background while the title, Hunting Season, is too accurate as the focus is on hunting: Will hunting Neecy for a permanent relationship and a rival goddess tasking her Hunters with destroying the Crows.
