Monday, February 11, 2013

Raphael/Parish by Alexandra Ivy and Laura Wright

Woot Woot.. My first ever review! :) I want to say so much but then I realize that these stories are only like 50 or so pages which means that if I kept writing I would be pretty much rewriting the story.

I also realize that these two stories came out about a month ago, but hey, life gets in the way and prevents us from doing what we really want to do.  I finally got around to reading them and for the most part they were both a really quick, easy read.   These two authors have teamed up to create a new world of puma shifters who live in the bayou’s of Louisiana. 
The first story is centered on Raphael who is a diplomat for this race of shifters, called The Pantera, in the Louisiana swamps.  He met our heroine Ashe one night at the local bar and had a sexy romp with her then hides her memory of the night in question.  Then oopsie, she ends up pregnant and has no idea how that happened.  She keeps remembering tidbits here and there but can’t tell if they’re real or imagined.  Ashe goes to the bar to pay her mother’s bar tab (she’s the town drunk) and meets up with Raphael again and that is where their story begins.  He explains to her that he knows she’s pregnant with his child and wants her to be with him.  Ashe isn’t so sure of that so Raphael has to convince her that she should be with him because he can offer her a home (her mother kicks her out at the beginning of the story).  Of course, nothing is ever as simple as it seems and there’s a group of bad guys who want to kill Ashe because she carries the first Pantera child in 50 years.  She is constantly in danger and Raphael does his best to protect her from the ones who want her and the baby dead. They finally make it to Raphael’s homeland which is called the Wildlands.   

The sexiness factor was definitely there.  For the most part, I liked Ashe and Raphael, so I gave their story a 3 out of 5.  I liked it but I didn’t love it.  Plus, it’s only 50 or so pages and it’s hard to squeeze a lot of plot and development into that short of a story.  I thought Alexandra Ivy did a good job with this one.

Second story is based on Parish, who we see briefly at the end of the Raphael.  He also has a deep hatred for humans but has a good reason (which I don’t want to spoil).  Raphael sends Parish to New Orleans to bring back a baby doctor for Ashe.   Julia Cabot is one of the best baby doctor’s in the state of Louisiana.  She’s also just had a terrible string of bad luck because she’s had to deal with her cheating boyfriend, being kicked out of her home, and then gets kidnapped by Parish.   He was only supposed to talk to her and reason with her to come be Ashe’s doctor, but one look at Julia and Parish knew she was his.  So, Parish takes her to the Wildlands and from then on out we see the relationship build between these two.  Julia didn’t want to fall for Parish because of her cheating ex and Parish didn’t want to fall for her because she was human.  Julia wants to leave but Parish convinces her to stay with him.  Of course, she decided to stay with him because she loves him.   This story is also left with a cliffhanger.  Ashe gets injected with something and now it’s a race against time to figure out what she’s been injected with and how it’s going to affect her. So hopefully, the next two stories will give us some idea as to what’s going to happen with Ashe and the baby. 

 I gave Parish a 3 out of 5 too.  Like I said earlier, I liked it but I didn’t love it.  Laura Wright did a good job with Parish as well.

If you’ve read the Breed series by Lora Leigh, I felt a similar connection to that series after reading these two stories. I liked that series so I have high hopes for this series as well.

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