He hates that he's a werewolf and has fought it for years. She's a raven shifter with telekinetic power working for the Damask Circle to hunt down the creature kidnapping and murdering children.
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Sometimes I get in a place where I read a series of books back-to-back. That's what I did with the Damask Circle books and that's why I'm reviewing them together.

The first book and the third are very much the same. Missing children. An evil femal supernatural being who is somehow and for some reason draining their lifeforce. One of the protagonists is related to a missing child. And in all the books one of the protagonists is unaware of/unwilling to use/unable to control their magical/supernatural ability.

I thought Circle of Fire was the worst of the trilogy. (Trigger Warning: Mention of domestic violence.) It felt like an earlier draft of the novel the author wanted to write. (A feeling that got stronger after I read the third book, which seemed like the evil supernatural draining kids book the author did want to write.) It wasn't a bad story, and Maddie's reluctance to use her power and inability to control it did make sense in the context of her life. But her quickly jumping into a relationship with Jon did not make sense in that same context.

I enjoyed Circle of Death, the second book in the trilogy, the most. Its plot was different from the other two, even though its protagonists were similar. In this book, Kirby, who doesn't believe she has much power, is being stalked by someone who seems to be out for revenge. Kirby must discover the parts of her past she's blocked out and Doyle, sent by the Damask Circle, will help her. This book had a lot of action and I liked Kirby quite a bit more than I liked the protagonists in the first book.

The third book, Circle of Desire, explained more about the Damask Circle and gave me a female protagonist who was highly aware of her powers and the responsibilities that come along with them. It also gave me a bonus character in her grandmother who was very powerful and with whom Kat had a very close relationship. It also had a werewolf in heat so that was a little odd for me, not being a trope I enjoy. Still, I think this book was better written than the earlier ones and shows the author really coming into her own style.

(Provided by publisher) ( )

This is a reissue of an older work and the third book in the series of the Damask Circle. Once again we get new characters with the only tie to any previous ones are occasional phone calls to the leader of the circle. New monster/villain and a slightly different take on zombies. Both the hero and heroine are shifters, one is a bird and the other is a wolf. The hero is the wolf and he has for the most part cut himself off to any permanent relationships with women due to his heart being broken when he was seventeen. I got a bit of laugh at that since most of the time it seems the heroine has the broken heart and has but be coaxed out of their relationship shell. The hunt for the baddie that has kidnapped the kids just didn't feel right for the most part. They never coordinated with the local police one the two of them hooked up even with one of them being an officer and the uncle of one of the missing kids. Set your brain aside for most of the logic of the story and enjoy how they constantly have to have sex while trying to rescue the kids.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss ( )

Katherine, raven shapeshifter and psychic, and her grandmother are hunting a new enemy of the Damask circle: some unknown and unseen force is kidnapping children. Their bodies turn up weeks after their disappearance – but they’re not just dead, their very souls have been consumed

Obviously, this has to stop. And with Damask circle resources stretched, any help they can get is very welcomed

Ethan is a police officer, his niece has been captured and he’s definitely ready to step up and join the hunt. As a werewolf he has a lot to offer – but he hates what he is and whatever fling he and Katherine has, he is determined for it not to develop into more. Here’s there to save his niece, not fall in love.

Interestingly, after I complained about the formulas of the last book, this book rather subverts them. Oh, he is still the physically superior, she is still the magical, less physical person (there are limits after all), but she is the one who is informed. Katherine is the one who understands about the supernatural and their nature and she is the one who both guides Ethan into the world of the supernatural and works to get him to accept his nature as a werewolf. She is the expert, she is the guide, she is the one who knows what is going on and, with her powers, she is the one who is probably the most dangerous of the two of them

Of course, in the past books those women were scared and traumatised by their true nature, while Ethan is enraged and angsty so while we break the pattern we still have the trope of the love of a good woman saving the broody man-who-has-been-hurt-by-the-ladies before.

That hurt-by-the-ladies can sometimes manifest itself as outright misogyny – one woman hurt him in the past so now all women cannot be trusted. Women are evil and conniving, women get pregnant to entrap decent menfolk with their wicked wicked wombs… I have no idea what Katherine sees in him beyond the hawtness

He also has a moment of, to say the least, careless language towards Katherine’s casual attitude to sex which comes across as slut-shamy, but she is very good at calling that out.

Unfortunately, while Katherine is, possibly, the stronger of the two she also needs rescuing at least twice and there is no real equivalent going the other way. It’s like the book couldn’t just let her be the stronger one, there had to be something to weaken her or put him in the role as white knight.

So there are some nicely subverted tropes – or, at least, patterns subverted – but some problems. The romance itself starts well in that both Katherine and Ethan are happy to have a casual fling and Katherine is certainly not a blushing virgin and has even had good sex before – all of which are nearly unheard of in the genre. But we have the woo-woo raising its head, with Ethan’s werewolf nature forcing him to have sex and creating a special lusty sex aura that affects all women around him in a frankly consent breaking and rape-esque manner. Ok, not with Katherine – she’s eager and willing, but even then, the fact the werewolf aura induces almost irresistible lust in all women around him means it’s virtually impossible for him to know whether any woman he sleeps with during the full moon actually consents to sex.

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I liked this book the best out or the three so far. While it still had plenty of supernatural features in it, it was the relationship between Ethan and Kat that really pushed this story along. At first I didn't really like Ethan for some reason but after he let his walls down a little I started seeing him as more of a tortured hero then a first class dick. Looking forward to more in this series. ( )