Title: Tamed and Mated (#1)
Author: Josephine Sparks
Genre: Fantasy / Paranormal
Length: Short Story (33 pages)
ASIN: B00DQSVG9W
Publisher: Josephine Sparks (January 12th 2014)
Heat Level: Explicit
Heart Rating: ♥♥2Hearts
Reviewer: Thommie
Blurb: Selem, a young dragon shifter, always knew that he was going to be mated to someone stronger some day. When he meets Jace, he can’t help but start liking him. The problem? Jace is not a dragon. He’s a wolf. And Selem is already promised to someone else.
Can a dragon and a wolf beat the odds in a dark fantasy world?
This is the first instalment in a serialized novel.
Purchase Link: http://www.amazon.com/Tamed-Mated-1-Josephine-Sparks-ebook/dp/B00DQSVG9W
Review: The blurb said it clearly, yet I somehow failed to see exactly what it meant; this is the first instalment in a serialized novel. What I found out after I read this was the fact that this entire series reminded me so much of free reads on blogs. You know the idea. An author writes a chapter every now and then and you have to sit and wait for the next, and the next. The big difference here is that you get to pay for this one, and it’s not nearly as enticing as some free reads out there that literally blow your mind.
The blurb also seems a bit leading in my opinion, especially that last line; Can a dragon and a wolf beat the odds in a dark fantasy world? I’d like to know the answer to that question myself seeing, as I didn’t get it from this first title. I find it really annoying when you get mislead like this.
Now plot-wise, there wasn’t much of a plot. What I read was simply bland sex and damn me if I got why. Selem belongs to a Dragon Clan that has some really weird ways. They count the number of a youngling’s scales and if the number is high enough, they deem that young’un weak and cut off his tail. Effectively cutting off his ability to shift into a full dragon when he’s to come of age. Not only that, but to appease the infuriated dragon, which can’t shift, the weak (servant) shifter must be claimed and tamed. So this is Selem’s fate, his duty, but that doesn’t mean that he likes his chosen mate, no. I loathed him deeply. And after his mate-to-be nearly rapes him, Selem runs of for the rest of the week, he has his freedom.
And that how the story begins. His mate to be gets angered and chases him, attacking him as well and managing to bring him down. Wounded Selem accepts Jace’s help and that leads to the interesting (interesting in the same manner as observing a bug while pinning its head) part of mating with the wolf…
And that was it! Huge spoilers here I know, I have no excuse beside the fact that I don’t know how to express the disappointment in this title. Plotless sex was what it was. I don’t know if it would have been different if all the titles were bound together into one piece, but as they are, I find it really hard to recommend this to someone. Had it been more enticing perhaps, had a bit of a plot, made a bit more sense, but as it is it’s just not worth it in my eyes.