Review:
This is part of the multi-author "Arranged Monster Mates" series, which can be read in any order. They all take place in the world of Alia Terra, which was formed when the Shift merged the human world with portions of a variety of monster worlds. In the present, poor or orphaned women submit their DNA to the Temple in order to be matched with monster mates and thereby ensure that they and/or their families live better lives.
Marigold is a human from a wealthy, emotionally distant family. After she rejects her friend's brother, her "friend" tricks her into giving her a small sample of her blood and then submits it to the Temple without Marigold's knowledge. Marigold is shocked and horrified when she's notified that she's been matched. She and her parents try to get her out of the arranged marriage, but it isn't possible, and so she reluctantly leaves with Shadow, the Lynx she was matched with, determined to act so spoiled that he'll eventually send her home again. Shadow, meanwhile, is an introverted author who has sought out a mate in order to keep himself from growing out of control during the upcoming mating season. He's determined to do his best to make Marigold feel welcome in his home and community, even if it means going outside his comfort zone and being more social.
This was lighter in tone than the entries in this series I read by Layla Fae - Marigold didn't have the level of trauma those heroines had, although she did have some issues resulting from how emotionally distant her parents were and how she'd been raised since childhood to present a perfect face to the world.
The setup was a bit difficult to believe. I could accept that Marigold's "friend" was a horrible person, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out what she'd been trying to achieve by submitting Marigold's blood to the Temple - it wouldn't do anything to help her brother. Also, it bugged me that there didn't seem to be a procedure in place for those who'd unwittingly and unwillingly had their blood submitted to the Temple.
Anyway, Shadow was a sweetheart. He just wanted Marigold to be happy and spent a huge chunk of the book wearing his heart on his metaphorical sleeve. Marigold, meanwhile, pretended to be cold, spoiled, and unaffected by the things Shadow gave her to try to make her feel welcome, all the while mentally squealing over the quality of the things available in the Lynx community. I wish a little more time had been taken to show the two of them getting to know each other and winning each other over, but what there was of their relationship-building was nice.
The sex, unfortunately, was not my cup of tea. Not only did it sound more gross than sexy, the descriptions of Shadow reminded me a bit too much of real cats and had my brain cringing away from picturing what was going on. Ick.
Anyway, this is probably my last foray into this series, since the descriptions of the other books don't really interest me.
No comments:
Post a Comment