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A review by fiery_arrow
Happily Ever Alpha by Rainy Kaye, Aimee Easterling, Angel Lawson, Kim Faulks, JC Andrijeski, Steffanie Holmes, Jesi Lea Ryan, J.E. Taylor, Conner Kressley, Ambrielle Kirk, Sylvia Frost, Elle Thorne, Amy Lee Burgess, L.B. Gilbert, Rebecca Hamilton, Tasha Black, K. de Long, April Aasheim, Sarah Mäkelä, Rozlyn Sparks, Michele Bardsley, Alexia Purdy
5.0
Amy Lee Burgess' Heart of Stone -
Gargoyle shifters have a big challenge facing them -- live as a human among humans to serve and protect them by eradicating the truly evil members of the species, but never be able to form meaningful relationships with humans because only the evil ones are attracted to the gargoyle's hidden nature; normal, non-evil humans unconsciously sense and shun it. Unless, of course, you happen to run into your gargoyle soulmate, who will spend whatever is left of gargoyle-kind's thousand-year lifespan with you. The world's a big place and gargoyle shifters aren't prolific...what are the odds?
That's Deanna's thought when handsome sculptor Brendan O'Malley tries to convince her they're mates. He's the only one who senses it, and Deanna's own blindness to this instinctive gargoyle recognition particularly bothers her because she has been accused of “emotional backwardness” by her fellow gargoyle shifters for preferring her gargoyle form to her human one and being the last of her brood to fledge (gargoyle shifters are only meant to shift into their nonhuman form for the purpose of consuming the auras of evil people).
I loved watching Dee and Brendan’s relationship develop, full of offbeat chemistry, close encounters of the steamy, carnal kind, and fraught with misunderstandings both hilarious and poignant. Those misunderstandings take on a whole new significance when Deanna is summoned back to Stone Mountain, the fortress of gargoyle-kind, to witness a trial, and forced by the Elders to question whether her “emotional backwardness” is a sign of a much deeper and more sinister problem that eventually puts her life with Brendan into heartwrenching jeopardy. Not only did it twist up my heartstrings, but it had me on the edge of my seat, gnawing my knuckles until the end. Ms. Burgess never fails to make me deeply invested in her characters and engrossed in watching their fates unfold!
Gargoyle shifters have a big challenge facing them -- live as a human among humans to serve and protect them by eradicating the truly evil members of the species, but never be able to form meaningful relationships with humans because only the evil ones are attracted to the gargoyle's hidden nature; normal, non-evil humans unconsciously sense and shun it. Unless, of course, you happen to run into your gargoyle soulmate, who will spend whatever is left of gargoyle-kind's thousand-year lifespan with you. The world's a big place and gargoyle shifters aren't prolific...what are the odds?
That's Deanna's thought when handsome sculptor Brendan O'Malley tries to convince her they're mates. He's the only one who senses it, and Deanna's own blindness to this instinctive gargoyle recognition particularly bothers her because she has been accused of “emotional backwardness” by her fellow gargoyle shifters for preferring her gargoyle form to her human one and being the last of her brood to fledge (gargoyle shifters are only meant to shift into their nonhuman form for the purpose of consuming the auras of evil people).
I loved watching Dee and Brendan’s relationship develop, full of offbeat chemistry, close encounters of the steamy, carnal kind, and fraught with misunderstandings both hilarious and poignant. Those misunderstandings take on a whole new significance when Deanna is summoned back to Stone Mountain, the fortress of gargoyle-kind, to witness a trial, and forced by the Elders to question whether her “emotional backwardness” is a sign of a much deeper and more sinister problem that eventually puts her life with Brendan into heartwrenching jeopardy. Not only did it twist up my heartstrings, but it had me on the edge of my seat, gnawing my knuckles until the end. Ms. Burgess never fails to make me deeply invested in her characters and engrossed in watching their fates unfold!