"Action-packed, extremely hot paranormal romance with very strong hero and heroine!"
Reviewed by Miranda Owen
Posted May 25, 2014
Romance Paranormal | Romance Erotica Sensual | Erotic
ALL ROAR AND NO BITE is Book 2 in Celia Kyle's
Grayslake
series. This series is based around a community of
werebears. Van Abrams is Enforcer for his werebear clan and
humans know him as a hard as nails cop. When he first
crosses paths with Lauren Evans, they find themselves on
opposite sides of the law. Lauren isn't a criminal -- she's
just defending her friend Anna from her violent and abusive
husband. The problem for Lauren is that the husband also
happens to be the mayor. I like how Lauren projected a
tough exterior only to protect her caring, tender heart.
It's her selfless championing of her friend that has the
townspeople of Grayslake protective of her.
There are many elements which Celia Kyle ties together to
make a highly entertaining story. The romance that develops
between Van and Lauren is full of complications, but they
complement each other and make a great match. The
passionate moments between them range from silly to
scorching. They can definitely generate a lot of heat. The
major issue for them is the fact that she is human while he
is a werebear, and he has always had a strong dislike of
humans. He has been slowly changing his opinion since his
older brother recently mated a woman who is half human, but
old prejudices are not easily changed overnight. I think
Celia Kyle did a nice job of showing Van's internal
struggle. The story he tells Lauren to explain how he
started to hate humans is very moving.
There are a number of external sources of conflict as well.
There's not just one bad guy in ALL ROAR AND NO BITE --
there are several. Van's protective instincts are
triggered because a lot of the focus from the bad guys is
directed toward Lauren for one reason or another. I like
that, although Van has intensely protective behavior where
Lauren is concerned, he appreciates her strength and
welcomes her fiery spirit. One of my favorite things about
their relationship is that he provides a fearsome roar on
command whenever she wants to roar herself but can't
because she's a human. Van really goes through an evolution
throughout this series.
ALL ROAR AND NO BITE is loaded with elements of danger,
exciting action, and sizzling romance. I look forward to
reading more stories in this series and seeing what's in
store for Ty's brothers Keen and Isaac.
SUMMARY
Who needs claws when you’ve got a baseball bat? Lauren Evans
sure as heck doesn’t. Human Lauren has a protective streak a mile wide and one
immediate goal in life—get her best friend out of an abusive
household. If that involves a little bat-based redecorating,
so be it. Unfortunately—or fortunately—a certain sexy-as-
hell cop breaks up the fight before she has a chance to
really get going. Grayslake police officer Van Abrams is too
hot for his own good, and his handcuffs make all those
wonderful places tingle. Too bad he, you know, arrested her
and stuff. But then he becomes overbearing, demanding, and
commanding. Suddenly Lauren finds herself in his arms, in
his bed, and mated to his werebear butt. What’s up with
that? Werebear Enforcer Van Abrams doesn’t want anything to do
with humans. He’s got reasons, and they’re damn good ones.
He doesn’t need to explain himself to anyone, especially the
curvaceous, luscious, gorgeous, human Lauren. Then, his bear
decides Lauren is his mate and Van’s anti-human feelings
abandon him. He still hasn’t figured out if that’s a good
thing. Of course, when danger rolls in from Boyne Falls and
joins with a powerful prick from Grayslake, Van realizes
that, human or not, Lauren is his.
Van hopes he can kill their enemies and still make it home
for dinner. Warning: This book contains bad guys (more than one)
being
bad to good girls (two if you’re counting), and one group of
humans who sorta end up… dead. Unfortunately, all that comes
with a lot of blood, tears, and balls of fur. In this one,
boy bears really do drool and human girls rule (and kick
ass). We also learn that you can never have enough baseball
bats, brake fluid, or fire pokers. Just sayin’.
ExcerptVan wondered if killing a wolf would start a blood war. Just
one. Not the whole pack. Not even
the Alpha. Nope, he had his sights set on the Redby Beta,
Morgan.He leaned against the brick wall, cell phone pressed to his
ear, as he focused on the cars entering
and leaving the gas station parking lot. He’d stopped for a
cup of coffee. Five minutes, in and
out. Except his quick break turned into a fifteen minute
phone argument with the wolf. “They’re twenty-five days over the limit,” Morgan growled
and Van’s inner bear responded to
the low threat. His beast took orders from one man—Ty—his older brother and
Itan of the Grayslake bear clan. “And as the Grayslake Enforcer, I’m telling you to give them
additional time,” he snarled in
return, keeping the sound low. Humans strode past him left and right and it was illegal to
expose themselves to non-shifters. Sure, a handful of older humans knew of them, but it was
important to keep a low profile. “The order was twenty-four hours for singles and forty-eight
for families. It was issued by your
Itan over three weeks ago.” Fuck. Van wondered if Ty realized the cluster fuck he
started by agreeing to work with the
wolves. It wasn’t the Itan dealing with logistics,
organization, and finally punishment, if his
orders weren’t followed. No, that fell to him and the
hardheaded asshole on the phone. It’d been hell since Ty swept into a nearby town, Boyne
Falls, and ordered the hyena Alpha and
ruling circle killed while also demanding all hyenas leave
the area. The Alpha had been involved
in the kidnapping of Ty’s adopted son and, as a result of
the hyena participation, Ty’s mate Mia
had been injured and nearly murdered. Van didn’t disagree with the punishment—hyenas in general
were a nasty breed. The werewolf
alliance, however, caused his bear to bristle and balk at
following Ty’s directives. “I’m aware of the order. As you said, it came from my Itan.
That doesn’t change the fact that
leniency is necessary for those in the hospital who need
assistance vacating the town. Helicopters
capable of life-flighting someone to another hospital don’t
materialize out of thin air and some
patients have specific medical needs.” Van’s fingers tingled
and warmed, a sure sign his bear
was annoyed by the wolf. One on one, the beast could take the smaller male and his
animal was ready to prove it. “The order is—” “Oh, fuck the order. I’m telling you they get enough time to
ensure they don’t fucking die on the
helipad.” He held onto his control by a thread, his whole
body trembling with the effort. “Leave
them the fuck alone.” “The order—” Van closed his eyes and banged his head against the brick
wall. “Seriously? I don’t know how it
is with wolves, but bears have common sense with a lot less
hardheadedness.” Not a sound came over the line for several seconds and Van
wondered if Morgan had hung up. Unfortunately, the man spoke. “Are you challenging me?” “Fuck me,” he grumbled and ran a hand over his face in
frustration. “No, I’m telling you to leave
the patients in the hospital—along with their families—until
arrangements can be made. Go be
an asshole to everyone else, but quit messing with the
injured and ill.” Another moment of silence. “I will speak with your Itan.” On Morgan’s lips, his
brother’s title sounded like a curse rather
than a position of respect. Van’s bear bristled at the insult. He opened his mouth to
ask when he wanted to meet in the pit,
but the rapid beep of his phone indicated the call had
ended. “Son of a bitch,” he growled through clenched teeth and a
low crack sounded in his ear. He
pulled the phone away and glared at the hunk of plastic,
metal, and glass. The damned screen
splintered, lines marring the surface, making the damn thing
useless. “Fuck.” Screw it. Van finished the job by crushing the device.
Taking a little help from his bear, he
squeezed until the phone was nothing but jagged bits of its
former self. A soft throat clearing pierced his focus, but it wasn’t
until the newcomer spoke that he pulled his
attention away from the phone. “Um, Officer Abrams?” Van recognized the speaker. One of the
clan guards, but he was also a
Grayslake police officer like himself. “Everything okay?” He reached for a nearby trashcan and uncurled his hand,
letting the pieces tumble into the
receptacle. “Just fine.” Van turned toward the other cop and
didn’t miss the cautious step the
man took in retreat. “Just fine.” “Sure, sure.” Damn it. He took a breath and released it in slow
increments. It wasn’t the man’s fault the wolf
pissed him off. “Sorry. Everything’s fine. How are patrols
this morning?” Van wasn’t just another cop, he was the clan’s Enforcer. If
bad things, illegal things, happened
within the clan or affecting the clan, he was the one who
carried out justice. He did the heavy,
bloody lifting. Which was why he was saddled with handling
the issue in Boyne Falls. And normally, Isaac would be around, waiting to patch up
their asses when they needed a
Healer. But Isaac… he wasn’t going to think about Isaac. Not
at the moment, at least. “Good, good. Pretty quiet, considering.” Considering the clan had lost four men due to the
machinations of Ty’s mate’s family and hyena
interference. “How’s everyone feeling? We got any hotheads?” That was the last thing he needed. The clan was already
hurting. He didn’t want to make it worse
by punishing someone for letting their beast free and going
after the hyenas themselves. “No, sir. Upset—angry—but we all know you and the It—” A
human walked by and the officer
coughed to cover his near slip. Damn humans were everywhere. “We know you and Ty are handling things the way they need to
be."
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