Kyn Warriors series

Dark Embrace
Kyn Warriors, #1
ebook, 50 pages
Published 2009 by Cobblestone Press
ISBN13 978160081453

Maria Ravensford is a woman on a mission. A mission of vengeance. Determined to avenge the death of her young sister at the hands of Rogue vampires, the petite Dhampir takes to the streets to hunt them.

Unfortunately things don't go precisely to plan and it's only the arrival of Marak, a darkly handsome Vampire Warrior, that saves her life. Trouble is, the bite that saves her life also takes her fully into the world of the Kyn... where Marak is waiting to claim her.

Dark Embrace kicked it off right unveiling a posse of dark warriors including our male focus, Marak, his smartass best friend, Kalen, and the kick ass female, Vixen. Plus, the mysterious Feral.

"Sheʹd be good for sex, but if you want good conversation youʹd do better moving in Ugly over there,” she commented, flipping her hand in a gesture towards Kalen.

“Bite me, bitch,” Kalen threw over his shoulder, busily arming up from the large weapons locker in the corner. Only his and Marakʹs weapons were still in there, the rest of the small arsenal the locker had contained already secreted about the bodies of the rest of the patrol. “You wish!” she snarled back without looking. It was a ritual the two of them had been going through for years.

“You two finished the sweet talk?” Marak growled, his patience wearing thin now. “Because the Rogue are gonna think itʹs damn Christmas with no warriors busting their asses out there!”

“Yeah, weʹre finished,” Kalen replied. “Blondieʹs too chicken to admit she fancies the pants off me.” He grinned as Vixen, predictably, flipped him a hand gesture.

“Fuck you, K,” she snarled, and stomped out the door.

The well meaning council of the Kyn vampires has demanded that Marrak produce an heir and take a mate to do it. Despite the visually stimulating, Kassandria, being offered up for the part, Marak longs for his bondmate, the one woman created solely for him.

He finds her in Maria, one of the few surviving Dhampirs, as she wanders the streets in search of Rogues. Years ago one of them attacked her baby sister who later killed herself as a result. Now, Maria strives to destroy every Rogue alive and nearly loses her life doing it.

Marak and Kalen watch from a distance as she battles but when the Rogue overtakes the woman they believe is fully human, Marak arrives nearly too late to be of any aide. He's left to bite her, and offer his blood in return, to save her life.

I didn't expect much from this book, and yet, I was pleasantly surprised to find it an intriguing and laugh-out-loud funny story. Actually, this one rocked for me. It did get a bit rushed at the end but I guess when a girl who spent her youth believing a true Kyn would never look twice at her half blood self realizes she's landed the king, she might get a but excited. I do agree with Kathryn's review on Goodreads in that the characters' speech does lack a bit of charm but it was easily tolerated and overlooked. 4 out of 5 stars.

Vixen
Kyn Warriors, #2
ebook, 35 pages
Published 2008 by Blade Publishing
ISBN13 9781897560075

The only vampire warrioress in existence Vixen has spent most of her life proving herself in a man's world, but she's never been able to squash some very feminine thoughts where fellow warrior Kalen is concerned. Kalen however, has sworn off love, preferring to deal in lust instead.

But a passionate encounter blows their carefully constructed indifference to each other and when Vixen is kidnapped will they be prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice to give their love a chance?

Vixen is a hard ass, first class bitch on the outside. On the inside though, especially where Kalen is concerned, she's all girly girl. Unfortunately, their relationship has been one of snide comments and cheap shots... until Marak and Maria's wedding.

When Kalen gets a look at a Vixen in her Vixen deemed, silk abomination of bridesmaid's dress, he is beyond smitten. A kiss, shower, and bite later, the man gets his own 'Woah! Where did that come from?' moment when he realizes he's in love with her.

Then Vixen is captured by Pixies and Kalen is forced to prove his love with the ultimate sacrifice- his soul.

I liked this one just as much as the first although I would have liked more of the smart ass bickering from both Vixen and Kalen which goes out the window pretty damn fast. The dialogue is much improved and the ending is more drawn out so there's a plus. 4 out of 5 stars.

Feral
Kyn Warriors, #3
ebook, 58 pages
Published 2009 by Blade Publishing
ISBN13 9781897560143

Feral doesn’t do babies. Or pixies. So when someone dumps a pixie baby of all things on his doorstep, he does the only thing he can think of. He tries to palm it off on someone else.

Unfortunately his neighbor is out of town, leaving her sister, Tessa, to house-sit. Her single and disturbingly attractive sister. Which leaves Feral with a couple of problems, especially when a bunch of pixie ninja wannabes break into the place and try to steal the baby. Does he turn his back on the pixies, a race he’s always hated… or will Tessa cast her own spell on the strong, silent-type Kyn Warrior?

This was just for fun with a bit of chaos thrown in for flavor. What better way to get Feral over his feelings for Vixen (which I did *not* see coming in book two) than to throw a baby at him. A baby god with pink hair mind you.

When the adorable and yet smelly bundle shows up on his doorstep, Feral runs to a neighbor for help, finding the woman's sister in her place.

Tessa is half pixie and all daring. She's definitely the flirt of this pair although Feral likes to play too. While this story is the longest of the three and offers a greater variety of characters including Fae, Pixies, and an Ogre, it's actually my least liked of the series. The villain, a deranged Fae princess, holds most of the blame. 3 out of 5 stars.

The series as a whole

Altogether this series is a 143 pages making them each separately a very quick read so there's not a lot of depth or back story. You're basically given one moment in time where the author likes to mock cliche lines but doesn't quite offer anything to combat them but more cheesy lines. Sort of a tit for tat situation.

My own rant, a pet peeve if you will, is the ridiculous use of explanatory marks in the narrative. I don't need a story yelled at me thank you very much. Overall, 3 out of 5 stars and I know that's not exactly an accurate average. Just a gut call.