Beyond the Veil (The Grey Wolves #5) by Quinn Loftis

☆☆☆☆☆

Published
December 5th 2012
Publisher
Quinn Loftis Books LLC
Genre
Paranormal Romance
Word Count
84,550
Pages
232
Author’s Page
https://www.quinnloftisbooks.com/

Man, I hate getting to the end of the books in this series and I can never wait to jump to the next one, even though I need to read something else for a while to break things up a bit.

Beyond the Veil is book 5 in the series and pretty much leaves off where book 4 ended with Romanian and Serbian packs now re-organizing while on the lookout for the psych bitch witch, Desdemona, who happens to be planning her next diabolical attack. I think my favorite Desdemona scene was when she got played by Adam, that was just so mean of him but she totally earned some major payback for her own meanness. Jen’s relationship with Decebel just cracks me up, especially when she gets huffy and accuses him of treating her like a child because technically compared to him she is, but then again, the age gap does make him a dirty, older than dirt old man so where do you go from there? Think Beyond the Veil is much darker than the previous books but I thought it was pretty awesome how the ladies in the story got to come to the rescue of their entrapped mates but I am disappointed in the behavior of said rescued males to some degree for closing their connections to their mates.

I am really impressed with how Quinn Loftis maintains the integrity and continuity of the story line and the personalities of her characters from one book to the next. So far if I had to rate the series itself I would give it five stars but as I am only rating the individual books I think I will give this one a five rating, it was well written and well edited as I found very few edits. Thank you, Quinn Loftis, for the grand adventure, I enjoyed it.

Quotes
The books in this series have some really interesting quotes that make me laugh and believe when I say that these days it is not easy to make me laugh.

“Oh, no, gypsy woman. You will name him after me. I don’t care if it’s JenBo, JenBob, or JenJakifer; I don’t care if it’s as blatant as YesIAmABoyNamedJennifer. But know this: I will sign my freedom away by simply suggesting that I’m going to undress. I will have to watch my oh-so-possessive mate stare daggers at me while I dance on a table. Then I will have to tuck my furry little tail and run for my life from said possessive mate. For all this, you will owe me.”–Jen

Book Cover Rating
I have thought about this cover for a few days now and then went back and looked at the other book covers in the series while I was at it, then I went back and thought about it a bit more. Technically the cover is beautiful but the more books in the series that I read the more the cover seems slightly out of alignment with book. Ok, yes, the romance portions of the book is focused on Costin and Sally but the book as a whole is about the pack and the cover does not reflect that, none of the covers do.

Book Blurb Rating
The blurb is pretty long and I realize there is a great deal going on in the story but I still feel that the blurb size could be reduced a bit to add more curiosity about the story line.

Book’s Blurb
Though the Serbian pack has been brought to heel thanks to the downfall of their Alpha, the war is far from over.

Desdemona, a witch of unfathomable power, has escaped the wolves’ wrath, but she will not go quietly into the night. She takes refuge in a place where even the smallest sliver of light does not dare to enter. Though she had to flee, she has not given up on the treasure she wishes to acquire. Her depravity knows no bounds; she’s even willing to search for the one who can assist her in opening a Veil that has not been opened in millennia – with good reason: the danger is incalculable.

Meanwhile, there are major changes rippling through the Romanian Grey wolves. Decebel has become Alpha to the Serbian pack in an effort to begin to unite the Canis lupis species. Their numbers are dwindling in the wake of the shortage of true mates and lack of offspring. The wolves are beginning to lose faith and darkness seems to be crashing in on them from all sides. But the winds of change are blowing, changes that will alter the future of not only the Canis lupis, but of another ancient race as well.

Amidst all of this, Sally is continuing to come to terms with her relationship with the playful, charming, flirty, unbelievably handsome bartender – who happens to be a member of the Romanian pack.

If all that weren’t enough, the Fates have decided to pay a little visit to Jen. It’s time to collect. She cheated the Fates of a life, her life. Now they want what they are due. The problem? It’s more than Jen is willing to pay.

Yes, the war is indeed far from over. Bargains will be struck, declarations will be made, sacrifices will be given, love will be tested, and trust will be questioned as evil makes its stand against them all.

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Out of the Dark (The Grey Wolves #4) by Quinn Loftis

☆☆☆☆

Published
June 4, 2012
Publisher
Quinn Loftis
Genre
Young Adult Paranormal Romance
Word Count
102,080
Pages
274
Author’s Page
https://www.quinnloftisbooks.com/

Out of the Dark starts where Just One Drops ends pretty seamlessly, and just as things just go from bad to worse.

I have spent the last week pouring over my notes and trying decide what and how I wanted to write this review. Don’t get me wrong I loved Out of the Dark but I had so many personal thoughts running in tandem with my thoughts about this book and at one point they converged in one thought “the hits just keep coming” which gave me an epiphany of sorts, I think, I am still contemplating the phrase as it pertains to my personal stuff but for the book it was the perfect phrase. At the end of Just One Drop, the Jen was missing and the rest of the pack had just escaped a deadly magical fire which is where the beginning of Out of the Dark starts and where things progressively get worse. But the thing that I like the most about this story is that through everything the pack stays tight and are there for each other trying to cope with the ever-growing threat and nonstop nightmare. As they plot and plan on getting one of their on back where she belongs and gear up for a war against some crazy evil bitch, they manage to find small pockets of happiness to cherish. I can relate to the later as my family is still living a nightmare, where the hits keep coming but we cherish the good moments even as we miss the one we lost. I believe that fact that I can relate to that small part of the story is what drew me to reading the Grey Wolves series again and keeping me engrossed and connected, even as my excuse was to re-read the series as I discovered there were new books in the series.

There really wasn’t anything about Out of the Dark that I didn’t like except perhaps the odd sort of double standard that exists in this young adult book the older teenagers probably read. What I mean is that when it comes to the violence Quinn Loftis is very graphic but the bedroom scenes are very vague, given her target audience I find that interesting, because given my occasional moments of orneriness I get could miles out of why is it ok have the graphic violence and not the sex scenes, I mean why one and not the other and the couples in question are married. I do understand why but the stirring of the proverbial pot would’ve been very entertaining to me at one time, now not so much, I would be able to keep up like I used to. My rating for this book would have been a five-star one because there wasn’t really anything I didn’t like about this story until I counted the edits but thankfully those edits only cost this story one star.

Quote
LOL I seem to find several quotes in this series that I think are funny and given that my heart is still in a dark place, with the death of Shanny, I am grateful for any humor I can get. In Out of the Dark I had many to choose from but this one stood out more than the others and had me thinking that my oldest daughter would love Jen and her brilliant vindictive mind.

“Okay, so let me get this straight. You want to show Dec pictures of his mate butt naked, pawing all over him, while he looked like he wanted to crawl under the bed? The same Jen who put K-Y Jelly all over the cars of the cheerleaders, put condoms over their antennas, and then wrote ‘cheerleaders got rhythm’ on their window shields last year for laughing at her Beauty and the Beast backpack? The same Jen who broke into the field house, got the field chalk, and drew a picture of a girl’s breasts and put ‘nice rack’ underneath it just because the team’s mascot we were playing was a Buck?”—Jacque

Book Cover Rating
I have been thinking about the covers since I started reading the series and for the most part I like them enough to give them three stars but I kind of feel like something is missing from them. I am still reading through the series so hopefully some insight will come to me as to what I feel is missing.

Book’s Blurb
Darkness has descended on the Transylvanian Alps.

Four packs of the powerful Grey wolves – in a rare show of cooperation – had joined together here in an effort to help their pack members find true mates. Then they were betrayed by one of their own – an Alpha hell-bent on becoming the most powerful of the Canis lupis. And though the wolf’s assassination attempt on the currently-reigning Romanian Alpha failed, his plans to get Decebel, the Romanian Beta, out of the picture were coming together even as his treachery was discovered. The wolf fled, leaving destruction, death, and a missing mate behind him.

Unbeknownst to the other packs, the wolf has employed a witch to finish the deadly job and help him gain another tool to increase his power. A curse of devastating proportions will cripple Decebel in a way that may dissolve his fragile bond with Jennifer. Meanwhile, injured and alone, Jen has been fighting for her life. She had come to terms with her fate, accepting that she would not share a life with Decebel, until help came in the most unexpected form…

Vasile will have to use all his resources – including Sally, the new gypsy healer of the Romanian pack – to discover a way in which to destroy the witch, lift the curse from Decebel and reunite him with the one woman who makes him whole, and solve a mystery that’s been surrounding the Romanian pack for 300 years.

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Just One Drop (The Grey Wolves #3) by Quinn Loftis

☆☆☆☆

Published
February 4, 2012
Publisher
Quinn Loftis Books, LLC
Genre
Young Adult Paranormal Romance
Word Count
88,000
Pages
262
Author’s Page
https://www.quinnloftisbooks.com/

In Just One Drop there is so much more going on with the pack and with the Grey Wolves as a whole. There is an Alpha who from what I can determine is not mated and probably certifiable with delusions of grandeur wanting to take over the world and the only thing, in his mind, standing in his way is Vasile and his pack. Thad’s goal seems to be to create as much distraction and diversion as possible with in Vasile’s pack that he doesn’t see the threat until it is too late. I can honestly say I really didn’t like him at all. I think the thing that surprised me the most was the traitor in Vasile’s pack, I thought I knew who this traitor was but when she was exposed I was honestly surprised, I didn’t see that coming.

Jen and Decebel’s being mates was already a forgone conclusion by the end of the second book but it comes into focus in Just One Drop as we watch them fight the attraction to each other since they are sure they can never be together because of the lack of any indicators proving they are mates. It doesn’t help that other wolves are using Jen and her antics to antagonize her Decebel. LMAO I loved the plan Jen hatches for the guys that made a movie night out of the video they took. I honestly have to say it reminded me of the plan my oldest daughter and her friends hatched to get even with the 2 boys that had harassed them for 2 years. They went through proper channels and nothing was done so the girls decided to make up wedding invitations saying the boys were getting married and taped them to almost every locker at the school. When I got to the school and listen to them tell me why my daughter (the ring leader in this) was being suspended, I told the Assistant Principal at the time that if she had done her job in the first place and protected the girls from the boys, my daughter and her friends would not have had to resort their actions and there for my daughter would not be punished at home for it.

After reading Just One Drop which is book 3 in The Grey Wolves series I am convinced that Quinn Loftis maybe as awesome a writer as Laurann Dohner, who has also created an amazing world that could almost be real. If I were to compare the two authors I would be hard pressed because both do seem to pay very close attention to the details of their stories from book to book. Thankfully I am not comparing the two, because I can’t because one is a young adult writer and the other is an adult writer with similar genres but different styles both of which appeal to me.

Finally the rating, I want to give Just One Drop five-stars but it has enough edits to drop the rating by one star so a four-star rating is what I am giving this amazing book with it’s amazing world.

Quote
“Seriously, Jen, do you think all those wicked witches look like they’ve been ridden hard and hung out to dry because it’s easy being evil?”—Sally

Book’s Blurb
Jennifer Adams, best friend to Jacque Pierce and Sally Morgan, spicy, out spoken, a little crazy and human…or so she thought. Jen has just found out that human DNA is not the only thing that resides in her veins, she happens to share that little pesky werewolf gene, although it isn’t more than just a drop. Now that she and her friends are living in Romania with Fane’s pack, she is also oh so conveniently stuck with the object of her affection, the fur ball Decebel. Drawn to each other by something they don’t understand Jen finds herself frustrated by the lack of mating signs between her and said fur ball. Not only is she dealing with that not so un-frustrating problem, she now has been informed that because of that little drop of werewolf blood in her she is now required to attended a multi-pack gathering for un-mated wolves. This type of gathering hasn’t taken place in over a century but with a shortage of females among the werewolf population the males are getting worried they won’t ever find their true mates. Meanwhile Decebel struggles with the emotions he is feeling towards Jen. He tries to keep his distance but there is just something about the mouthy blonde that keeps him coming back for more of her verbal abuse that he just can’t seem to get enough of…go figure.

Purchase Links
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Blood Rites (The Grey Wolves #2) by Quinn Loftis

☆☆

Published
November 18, 2011
Publisher
Quinn Loftis
Genre
Paranormal Romance
Word Count
89,900
Pages
301
Author’s Page
https://www.quinnloftisbooks.com/

Blood Rites Jacque and Fane and gain must deal with yet another psycho wolf and new oppositions to their mating. Sparks beginning flying between another unexpected couple. Blood Rites is a darker story than Prince of Wolves, with much more violence and some really funny moments to give you a break from all the bad coming your way when you read this story.

There is a great deal to love about this book, you have the outspoken Jen, who really needs a filter but I am so glad she doesn’t have said filter. You have Jacque, who, though very much out spoken like her friend Jen, tends to be a bit more tactful. Then you have Sally, who can verbally stand up for herself, keeps her friends grounded. I think my absolute favorite scene was when Lilly slapped Dillon, the whole scene was hilarious. Oh, wait then the was the Jen gets drunk scene from start to finish that had my highly entertained as well.

The only thing I really didn’t like about Blood Rites was the edits, if not for those this story would be getting a five-star rating. There were a number of what appears to be typos and a few sentences that have missing words. With the number of edits, I found my star rating was reduced to a two-star rating.

Quotes
It was hard for me to pick my favorite quotes there were so many really good ones.

“Jacque has been unconscious for a month. Lilly has been through hell for that month, she is stressed out enough right now. Nevertheless, I will let her know. If you get here and she isn’t waiting in the lobby, then call me tomorrow, we will go from there. However, I must know, how is your mate going to feel when Lilly sends you home in a pine box, because you have to know this isn’t going to go well,”—Vasile to Jacque’s dad

“I’m done, finished, and if you hairy, testosterone filled, egotistical, snarling, drooling, flea infested werewolves want Jen to neuter you in your sleep than far be it from me to stand in your way.”—Sally to Decebel

Book Blurb Rating
The blurb needs some editing and given the size of the blurb the number of edits is off-putting. If not for book one in the series I would have not purchased this book.

Book’s Blurb
With the challenge complete and the corrupt Alpha of Coldspring defeated Fane is now free to complete the mate bond with Jacque and perform the Blood Rites. Although the challenge is done, the affects are far reaching. Once it is known that Vasile one of the strongest Alphas in the world is in America, specifically Coldspring, TX, there is one Alpha who cannot over look the significance of this. An Alpha who happens to share Jacque’s DNA, but is this the one she needs to fear?

With her mom driving and her two best friends, Jen and Sally in tow, Jacque set off for her happily ever after. She will soon realize a plan has been put in motion that will change her course and possibly tear her from Fane’s grasp forever. It will take a wolf pack, her mother’s love, her two best friend’s unrelenting determination, her own will to survive and the undying love of her mate to bring her home. The question remains, if she fights, if she endures, who will she be, what will be left once she is back in her mates arms?

Purchase Links
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Prince of Wolves (The Grey Wolves #1) by Quinn Loftis

☆☆☆

Published
June 29, 2011
Publisher
Quinn Loftis
Genre
Young Adult Paranormal Romance
Word Count
91,230
Pages
310
Author’s Page
https://www.quinnloftisbooks.com/

Basically, this is a girl meets boy, boy claims girl is his mate and then all hell breaks loose kind of story. And yes, I have read this one more than once, but only because I have this crazy need to read every book in the series again when the author adds a new book to said series, and believe me is can be a brutal cycle sometimes because I love so many really good series.

Prince of Wolves starts out The Grey Wolves series focusing most on Jacques relationship with Fane but they are only part of the core group that this story revolves around, it’s just that their romance is center stage but there is truly much more going on. As I read this first book in the series I felt like it is more of an introduction to Jacque, Fane and the other cast of characters with their unique personalities and dynamic interactive relationships, as well as the culture of the Grey wolves. There other thing about this story I find interesting is that when in come to the Jacque and Fane the story is PG 13 but when is come to the violent action the author doesn’t pull her punches when it comes to detail. Don’t take that to mean I am disappointed by the story because the fight scene was really brutal.

I really love stories that give me a three-dimensional view of the world that the author is building. I know that writing like that can’t possibly be easy what with the attention to detail that such a feat requires for the characters and background. I have found very few authors who are capable of creating such books by maintaining the time lines of their stories and consistency of the character’s backgrounds.

The only thing I didn’t like about Prince of Wolves was the edits that I found in the book which is a contradiction to the authors attention to detail, and I realize no one is perfect but when they come up they sure do feel like an interruption and that drives me nuts, for some reason. Most of those edits were, I think, typos that could easily be fixed add to that the chapters that had the first word or two set up as links that turned into an annoyance when my finger brushed a crossed one to turn the page and I ended up back at the beginning in the table of contents. For those reasons I am compelled to give a five-star book a three-star rating.

Quotes
“You’re a Romanian werewolf prince, your dad is the werewolf king, you are bossy, possessive, and territorial by nature. Which, if you were just a wolf would mean you’d pee on whatever you wanted to mark as yours.”—Jacque

“Oh, hell no. You did not just growl at me. I will castrate you while you sleep and then hang them on your car antenna, so BACK THE HELL UP!”—Jen

Book’s Blurb
Jacque Pierce was just an ordinary 17-year-old girl getting ready to start her senior year in high school in Coldspring, Texas. When a mysterious foreign exchange student from Romania moves in across the street, Jacque and her two best friends, Sally and Jen, don’t realize the last two weeks of their summer are going to get a lot more interesting.

From the moment Jacque sets eyes on Fane she feels an instant connection, a pull like a moth to a flame. Little does she know that the flame she is drawn to is actually a Canis lupis, werewolf, and she just happens to be his mate; the other half of his soul.

The problem is Fane is not the only wolf in Coldspring, Texas.

Just as Fane and Jacque are getting to know each other, another wolf steps out to try and claim Jacque as his mate. Fane will now have to fight for the right to complete the mating bond, something that is his right by birth but is being denied him by a crazed Alpha. Will the love Fane has for Jacque be enough to give him the strength to defeat his enemy, will Jacque accept that she is Fane’s mate and complete the bond between them?

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