Author: Amber Kell

Guest Review: The Changing Years by Amber Kell

Posted July 10, 2015 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: The Changing Years by Amber KellReviewer: Tracy
The Changing Years by Amber Kell
Series: Out for You
Also in this series: All Bite, No Growl
Publisher: All Romance eBooks
Publication Date: June 1, 2015
Add It: Goodreads
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four-stars
Series Rating: three-stars

The most important show of strength is to embrace one’s true nature.

The death of his ex-wife grants Shaun McKellan custody of his only child, and the chance to know his son after years of separation. Now a full-time father, Shaun thinks his life is finally complete…then he meets the Alpha running the town where his son attends school.

Grant Thornlin has always resisted the temptation of other men. As the Alpha, he must be strong and give his pack the impression he has invincible power. Falling for a blond, blue-eyed artist with a half-shifter son has bad idea written all over it.

How can Shaun show Grant that loving another man doesn’t have to affect his position as Alpha?

Tracy’s review of The Changing Years (Out for You) by Amber Kell

Shaun McKellan was once married to a shifter but while his wife was pregnant with their son she met her mate. According to shifter law mate trumps marriage so they divorced and his ex-wife and her new husband raised their son, Kerry. Shaun longed for his son every day but his ex-wife didn’t want him to imprint on the child so he stayed away, receiving emails and picture updates of Kerry on a regular basis. Now Kerry is 15 and going to be living with Shaun for the first time. His mother died in a car accident and the step-father can’t handle the boys half shifter aggression.

Shaun and Kerry are so happy to be with one another. They get along perfectly and Shaun is extremely happy. He goes to the local shifter high school to try to get him enrolled and meets Grant, the local Alpha. Shaun, who is bi-sexual, is immediately attracted to the man but tries to focus on Kerry during the meeting.

Grant is not gay. At least that’s what he keeps telling himself because his inner wolf is trying to get out to attack Shaun and make him his. Grant and Shaun finally act on their attraction but Grant isn’t willing to put his place as Alpha in jeopardy by coming out to his pack and Shaun isn’t willing to go back in the closet for anyone, even Grant.

Of the Out For You books that I’ve read so far this is definitely my favorite. It had a wonderful flow to it and kept me turning pages.

Shaun was a great guy and a great father. I felt so bad that he hadn’t been able to be with his son for his whole life and wanted to slap his ex-wife (but, ya know, she was already dead so…) for keeping them apart. I guess I understood the imprinting thing when he was little but as he grew that was just an excuse. I loved how he was with Kerry and frankly wanted a bit more page time between the two of them but of course it’s a romance so I got why that didn’t happen.

Kerry was a good kid. He was smart and seemed to have a good sense of humor. I couldn’t tell from the story if he was aware of his dad’s sexuality before he moved in or not but he didn’t have a problem with it at all and that was a point in his favor.

Grant was a interesting character. I was a little peeved that he knew that Shaun was his true mate after they had slept together but didn’t bother to tell Shaun. Instead he avoided him even though he wanted nothing more than to be with him. I was happy that he finally decided to come out and that his pack would either accept the coupling or not and if not they could leave town.

In the end a really good story that I enjoyed reading. I have no idea if the author will give us more from these guys/family in the future but if she does I’d love to read about them.

Rating: 3.75/4 out of 5

This title is available from ARe. You can buy it here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

four-stars


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What I’ve Been Reading This Week

Posted June 8, 2009 by Tracy in Features | 9 Comments

by Amber Kell, Jennifer St. Giles, Jodi Thomas, Joely Skye, Lisa Kleypas, Michele Bardsley, Sean Michael

Greeting earthlings. I feel like I’m an alien today. The kids and I have been going and going and going since Friday and I’m pooped. It’s sad when you have to go to work to get some rest. lol And that’s just a different kind of tiring! 🙂 Being exhausted is one of the reasons this post wasn’t up on Sunday as is my usual. I just couldn’t do it. 🙂

So what did I read this week?

First was Touch A Dark Wolf by Jennifer St. Giles. I had read a couple of reviews for her latest book in this series and was interested in reading more. It wasn’t what I expected – I was expecting more of a werewolf type book rather than spirit wolf/vampire novel but it was still a good read. I will be reading more in this series. 3.75 out of 5

Next up was Rewriting Monday by Jodi Thomas. My first read by Ms. Thomas and I liked it a lot! There were a couple of editing issues in it that were frustrating but since the story ended up being so great I could ignore them in the end. Just a sweet read. You can read the review by The Book Smugglers here. 4 out of 5

Next up was Feral by Joely Skye. Kris did a post about mates and were-beings and it got me wanting to read more shapeshifters. When I went to All Romance ebooks this cover just caught my eye. I totally dig this cover. The story is about Ethan, an almost feral shapeshifting cougar, and Bram, a wolf shapeshifter who helps him escape after he’s captured. The two men find each other again and start a relationship. It was not very fast paced but steady and emotional. 3.5 out of 5


Hellbourne: Heart and Soul by Amber Kell is the last short story in the trilogy about Luc. I just love Luc. He’s just a great guy and one of those you’d love to have as your best friend. Ok, he’s Satan’s son, but still. 3 out of 5


Over My Dead Body by Michele Bardsley was my next read. I read this one for review on The Book Binge – I’ll let you know when the review posts. I should probably write the review and that would give it a chance to be posted, what do you think? lol

Following along with the shapeshifter theme for the week I read Bite by Sean Michael. Another m/m story that follows Anton and his newly hired chef, Greg. While Anton, a werewolf, and Greg are forming their new relationship Greg realizes that someone is after him. Greg is eventually taken by a rival pack and it’s up to Anton to save him. This was a story that I couldn’t seem to stop reading. It’s not a story that’s high on the relationship building (not a whole lot of the “getting to know about each other” stage) but a lot of sex. I mean a lot of sex and it’s hot, damn hot. This author knows how to write some amazing m/m sex scenes. 3.75 out of 5

My Tracy’s TBR Challenge read for the week was It Happened One Autumn by Lisa Kleypas. This has been on my shelf for at least 3 months and I finally picked it up. sigh I just love Kleypas’ historicals. She writes great romance. I didn’t love Lillian but I didn’t dislike her either in the first book but I’m so glad I didn’t skip this one as so many people said I could/should. I appreciated her personality and the fact that she stood up for herself and her relationship with Westcliff. Also I think I would have missed seeing Westcliff being brought to his knees – that was wonderful. And some of those kisses that they shared? Man, oh man were they great. 4 out of 5

FYI – I’m having some serious issues with my personal email so if you’ve emailed me I’ve probably gotten back to you. However most people aren’t receiving my emails so if you’re expecting a response but don’t get one please try me again – sometimes it works. It’s incredibly frustrating though and hopefully the problem will be worked out soon.

Happy Reading!


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