| Genre | Gay / Paranormal / Fantasy / Shifters / Vampires / Magic / Erotic Romance / Mystery/Suspense/Thriller / Action/Adventure |
| Reviewed by | Christy Duke on 21-August-2014 |
Ice dragon Hareem Tersain was born to lead the draechen empire. He thought nothing could become more important to him than Ornoz. He was wrong.
When his path crosses that of one beautiful werewolf, Hareem is torn between love and duty. For Hareem, Taryn Lovington, his mate, is perfect. But their bond is taboo. Other draechen would never accept a ninth caste member as an emperor’s consort and a werewolf’s child as an heir. Trying to protect Taryn, Hareem sends him away.
He doesn’t realize his foes know about his connection with Taryn. When Taryn is attacked by vampires, a chain of events is set into motion that reveals an unexpected enemy. Forced into unlikely alliances, cornered by the selfish desires of others, Hareem has to build a safer world, one where he and Taryn would be free to love each other. Will he succeed in this daunting task, or will he pay the ultimate price for making the attempt?
NOTE! You are purchasing Siren's newest imprint, the Siren Epic Romance collection. This is Book 5 of 7 in the Chronicles of the Shifter Directive series. The series shares an overall story arc with many crossover characters playing major roles in each book. These books are not stand-alone and should be read in their numbered order.
I knew that 'Emperor's Consort' was going to be a little different than the first four books in this series. Why? Mainly because since book one, when Kerain captured Taryn along with Graham, I've watched some of the development of Hareem and Taryn's mating. So, in essence, quite a bit of their background is already known to me. I loved the fact that this book picked up almost immediately after the end of the previous installment.
Hareem and Taryn are mates, true mates, but Hareem is Emperor of the draechen, the very top of the shifter castes, and Taryn is a werewolf, the ninth and lowest caste. Not only is their mating in direct opposition of the Shifter Directive, but the child Taryn is carrying is against the law. In his efforts to protect Taryn and their unborn child, Hareem sends Taryn away to a draechen stronghold in New York. Considering Hareem's current issues with the vampires, it should've come as no surprise to him when the bats kidnap Taryn. The vampire king wants a trade, Taryn for his son, Fallon, and the other bats imprisoned at Draechenburg. What the king doesn't know, however, is that if it weren't for the draechen and their allies, Fallon would've been killed by the darkness he was working with. Instead, Talrasar used his healing powers to save him, but Fallon is still in a coma. Regardless, the bats are trying to take Taryn, the single most important person in the world to Hareem, even if he can't publicly acknowledge it. Luckily Taryn, with the help of Rachen, escapes and ends up on the neighboring property belonging to Jude, son of the elf king, but currently in exile from his people.
Hareem races to find Taryn and when he does, it's with a heavy heart that Taryn leaves with his brother Monroe and his pack. Taryn tells Hareem that no matter how much they love each other, their world is still divided by the Shifter Directive and centuries of hatred. No matter how much Hareem wants to change everything, Taryn must protect his child, so he leaves to return to his brother's pack. Hareem vows to get to the bottom of what's been going on, find the shadowy person causing all this trouble, and make the world a better place for Taryn and their child. Oh crap. Let's just say that the shadowy darkness, the true evil which has been behind so much, is even more horrific than I thought. Somehow, when the obelisk exploded and released Kael, Talrasar, and Rachen, a horror of the draechen was released as well and it's coming for revenge.
I'm running out of adjectives to express how much I love this series. At this point all I can think of is very expressive curse words and that's probably not appropriate. Needless to say, this book was just as incredible as the four previous ones. It revealed some hidden things and managed to hide some more stuff and then...then...the author left me on a cliffhanger. Granted, every book has left me wanting more, but this one truly had a cliffhanger and so here I go...off to read book six.
DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by Siren Publishing for the purpose of a review.
| Format | ebook |
| Length | Novel, 87101 words |
| Heat Level | |
| Publication Date | 31-August-2013 |
| Price | $5.99 ebook |
| Buy Link | http://www.bookstrand.com/emperors-consort |
