Reviews tagging 'War'

Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites by Joy Demorra

10 reviews

aryelee's review

adventurous hopeful lighthearted tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This novel started off as a joke, a fun little exercise in poking at tropes, but you can see the moment Demorra starts taking it seriously and gets swept up in the characters, the worldbuilding, the plot. It's incredibly well written and the characters are all full of life and personality. I never thought I would read about a disabled werewolf recovering from a war, but now I'm not sure how I read other supernatural romances when someone like Nathan wasn't there. 

And Vlad? His character growing from tired and uncaring of life to being free of toxic people and being able to open up fully to Nathan? Top tier. Unparalleled. No one does it like them. I'm so obsessed with these two and being able to see their relationship grow and develop, paired with the way they pined after each other before finally getting together for some truly well written sex scenes? If the next steamy romance novel I read doesn't have the characters really work through their feelings like this, I'm going to be upset. 

The worldbuilding! The worldbuilding is so good, well thought out, and the political aspects of it all are described and integrated so well. The magic parts were just as fun, and I know there's much more still to be revealed (book two, I'm ready for you whenever you come out). 

The only reason this isn't a 5 star book is because Ursula was not involved for a vast majority of the story, and the few chapters she was in the main storyline, they went by too fast. I would have loved to see her relationship with Nathan and Vlad have more time to develop, to go a little slower so they had more time to get to know each other and flirt. As it is, I'm excited to see more of her in the next book as she's such an interesting character!

If you want a well written queer romance novel with werewolves and vampires, this is the perfect book for you. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Racism

Moderate: War

steph_weigle's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Blood, Bullying, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Classism, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content

Minor: War, Infidelity, Colonisation, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Alcoholism

bashsbooks's review against another edition

funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Hunger Pangs is marketed as a steamy and fun satire of paranormal romance, and I feel like it delivered well on that promise. The chemistry between Nathan and Vlad is a joy to read - and the chemistry with Ursula, too, though I wish there had been more wit her. Some of the political critiques were eye-rollingly heavy-handed, but they weren't wrong. Nathan's disabilities were handled really well, and I'd love to see more heartthrob werewolf doms with arm braces and hearing aids. The sexy scenes were also a lot of fun and very engaging. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

Moderate: Ableism, Blood, Medical trauma, Alcoholism, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders

-If you aren't interested in sexual content, there is another edition of this book without it; it has a blue cover.

toy_masterpiece's review against another edition

adventurous funny slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical trauma

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and War

hailstorm3812's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

The structure of this is wild. Based on the description and the fact that there is a fluff version, I assumed it would be a full blown spicy romance with fantasy elements, but it is a very slow burn romance with a the plot being mostly about politics. I did absolutely love the slowburn and enjoyed the political plot, even if it wasn't expected. I think structurally it should have been two books because Ursula is really thrown in at the last minute instead of giving her a romance she deserves. While I didn't love the structure and pacing, I also had a lot of fun and will be reading the next one.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Ableism

Minor: Sexism

shadowspinner's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Blood, Ableism, and Biphobia

Minor: War

pvbobrien's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Ableism

Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Classism, War, Biphobia, Blood, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

maybephasing's review against another edition

funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, War, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

Minor: Racism, Ableism, Blood, Alcoholism, Biphobia, and Cursing

cgn's review against another edition

4.5

This book was so delightful. It was just like a warm hug with a hint of intrigue (though mind the trigger warnings)

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Medical content, Racism, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Toxic relationship, and War

Minor: Alcoholism

hauntedtesty's review

funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Hard one to review. I felt the pacing was very uneven, with the first half being very focused on a character romance and then suddenly the last third remembering it had to introduce Ursula and being all doom and world ending. Which was very abruptly solved... There are a lot of characters in the first half who are promptly dropped, due to a switch in genre focus.
I can see where some plot threads will be pulled into the second book, but definitely needed some more pruning. The main duo are fun to read.
Have read that was is an episodic release on patreon, so that might be where the book format falls over. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

Minor: Racial slurs, Biphobia, and Medical trauma