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Book Review of Lord of Rage & Primal Instincts (Royal House of Shadows)

Lord of Rage & Primal Instincts (Royal House of Shadows)
reviewed on + 929 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1


This was a two for one book by Jill Monroe. It included Lord of Rage which is the second book of the Royal House of Shadows four part series (Lord of Vampyre by Gena Showalter, Lord of Wolfyn by Jessica Andersen, and Lord of the Abyss by Nalini Singh). The other book was called Primal Instincts which was a contemporary romance.

I know this had no bearing on the book but I just had to put it out there that whoever did the cover was obviously obsessed with 80s porn queens and David Hasselhoff. It was one of the cheesiest covers I have seen.

Lord of Rage was a bit of a disappointment to me. The characters were likeable enough but it really didnt go anyhwere for most of the book. It was okay but there was no fire. For a berserker, Osborn wasnt very wild and untamed. I knew he was supposed to be but it didnt show. Monroe also introduced characters like Rolfe where you would think he would play a significant role, but didnt. Why bother spending time with the character at all? I would have liked more information about the type of magic Breena could do. It was all rather convoluted what she was capable of, even in the battle scene. Monroe brought up a lot of things but never follow through with them. Yet she pounded in the Goldilocks story into the readers just in case we were idiots and couldnt see the parallel. The book was written more like a rough draft than a polish piece. It really fell flat for me, especially as a follow up to Showalters book.

Primal Instincts was very slow to start and there was a few times where I thought about putting it down, but it got better. This was actually better than Lord of Rage. There were two love stories in here: Siblings Miriam and Ian were part of a family owned publishing company. Ian was sent out to help an anthropologist (Ava) rewrite her book on sex and marriage rituals so that it wasnt so academic. Their interactions were fun and even somewhat silly. It was a cute enjoyable story. Miriam's story had a promising start and then went nowhere (much like "Lord of Rage"). She had a one-night stand with a much younger Jeremy. He obviously wasnt done and tracked her down. Here Miriam had to consider what it meant to be with Jeremy and how everyone else will view the relationship due to their age difference. Lame story and very typical. Absolutely nothing special. I thought it distracted from Ian and Avas story.

Overall, it was an okay read. I dont think I will be reading anymore Jill Monroe books though.