Reviewed by Sarina

TITLE: Rended Hearts

AUTHOR: Riza Curtis

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 150 pages

RELEASE DATE: March 30, 2018

BLURB:

After a life on the run, witch Gabriel just wants to enjoy having a home. He’s perfectly happy pottering around his garden and using magic to quietly help people. Then the Alpha of the local wolf pack is attacked by a member of the local coven, and everything changes. There’s no love lost between the witch and the wolves, but Gabriel saves the life of the Alpha in an attempt to keep the peace.

Simon finds his mate in the witch that saves his life, but the coven is coming for Gabriel, and they don’t care who gets in their way…

This novel is intended for adult audiences only, and contains violence, swearing, and graphic sex scenes. There are also mentions of off-page past suicide.

REVIEW:

I have to say it was nice to see this author writing something a little longer than the stories I’ve read from her previously and I enjoyed every bit of it. 😀  Gabriel has lived his life on the run, constantly afraid of being discovered by the coven responsible for the death of his parents. His current home is practically perfect, the only downfall being the local werewolf pack, but he’s fully aware that werewolves and witches don’t get along so he goes out of his way to avoid them.  That avoidance comes to an abrupt end, however, when he’s nabbed from his home and brought into the heart of the pack lands in order to try and heal the Alpha, Simon, who has suddenly collapsed and appears to be near death.  Simon has no memory of what happened to him but the one thing he does know is that the witch that tended to him is his mate.  It doesn’t matter if witches and werewolves aren’t supposed to mix, he wants Gabriel and will do whatever he needs to to convince him that they belong together.  With the realization that the coven hunting for Gabriel is responsible for the attack on Simon, however, it will take more than just Simon’s determination to convince Gabriel to stay.

Like I said, I liked this one; I got a good feel for the characters and I felt the author did a good job portraying both the background animosity normally between the witches and wolves and the overlaying problem with the coven.  Despite Simon being the Alpha and used to being in charge, it was great seeing Gabriel stand up and put his foot down, especially when Simon tried to order him around as if he were just another pack member.  I honestly would have enjoyed seeing more time between Gabriel and Simon just getting to know each other but I also understand that with the threat of the coven becoming an even bigger concern and then moving into a real Problem, that it wasn’t exactly possible.  Honestly, my only real complaint is that I never did get a good feel for when this book was supposed to be taking place; was it in the present or some time in the past?  I kept finding various aspects of the book that could point one way or the other and it drove me a little batty by the end.

The ending of the story (in regards to the coven) was, quite frankly, a bit unexpected but worked really well for me.  Everything was wrapped up fairly neatly in a good way and I wasn’t left feeling as though something was missing or that I had been gipped in some way.  Not a lot of angst in this one but I didn’t really need that and this made for a good afternoon read.  If you enjoy a lighter type of paranormal and enjoy mate stories you may want to give this one a look.

RATING:

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