Kelsey JordanRecensioni

3.5 stars. This is the third book in a series about were people who live in our world but are not fully of it. While I could mostly follow along, it was clear that a lot of world building occurred in the first two books that would have helped me understand things earlier and better. The book is in two parts, the first centers on the daughter of the couple from the first book, and the second continues her story along with the story of one of the gods who's understanding of the universe is being challenged.

The heroine of the first book is emotionally weak in a world where strength is most important. She ends up with one of the strongest men in her world, and there is a good deal of no communication about the important things between them. Partly this is because he knows she must make some changes before she can fit into his life. Partly this is because he's the strong silent type and she gives in easily.

I had some issues with how the hero and heroine interact, especially in the second half of the book. He is angry, for understandable reasons, and is not nice to her for some time. She is not very interesting during the second half of the book. Granted she's not the focus, but she just hangs around in a wishy washy manner that didn't want me to spend more time with her. That was surprising as I had come to like her in the first half and had a tearjerk reaction to what happened with her.

The second half focuses more on two males who are angry or pushy. While I wasn't happy with the way Trent behaves towards Aranya, he does end up expressing himself in a deeply emotional and romantic way that somewhat redeems him. The god is likeable except for how he interacts with Fate, where he is focused on domination. Trent is rather dominating as well. And I guess those factors kept me form enjoying the book as much as I might have otherwise.

That being said, it is clear that Aranya's parents' story was very different as her mother is perhaps too strong, and the heroes of the second book seem quite interesting and likeable. So, now I want to go and read those books, as I suspect I will like them better. This book takes place mostly in a world at war (though hidden from humans). This book isn't about the war, though battles do occur. This book is about Trent and Aranya changing, and about changes with the gods.

I received a free copy for review from the author through LibraryThing.

This book wasn't for me. The writing or dialogue was choppy at times, so it messed up the pace of the story for me. Alexis, Kyra and Ronan felt a little flat to me as well and I couldn't connect with their characters. I am usually a fan of high fantasy and paranormal, and this seems to be a meld of the two, so I had high hopes for the series... but it's just not grabbing me.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. DNF at 30%.

I received this book free through LibraryThing in exchange for my review. I was immediately impressed with the author's ability to explain to new readers the background, characters, and religion of the world she created. I did not read volumes 1-2, so without this help, I couldn't have understood this book at all. The world is very rich and detailed, which I loved and the story is unique. My only complaint is my personal preference for relationships is not one based on an unbalanced power dynamic. In fact, it was so unbalanced I couldn't understand why either of the two main characters had any relationship, except mentor and mentee. However, the author is talented. If you enjoy paranormal suspense and romance, check out this series!½

Free book as member of Early Reviewers Group. I enjoyed the book. I haven't decided to purchase the first two books in the series, but I might. This book can be read on its own, but there are several events and referrals that make absolutely no sense without the background material. The paranormal presentation is different from any other series that I've read. I've read more than the average reader. This author does a good job of making the characters unique and the clans a bit different from other books, but the God's remind me of several existing series. If you are looking for a new author and series this book has potential.½

First of Spring has a very interesting take on the Lycan folklore and I enjoyed how the author portrayed the characters. Trent and Aryana's relationship can be infuriating at times throughout the story, however, I enjoyed seeing their relationship grow. It was nice not having two characters just fall in love right off the bat. One last thing, I loved the end! Read it and you'll know! Justice!

I received this free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed reading this book even though it started off being confusing because it's the 3rd book of the series, but it didn't take too long to figure it out. The characters were all fully realized and the mythology and society well thought out. Trent is the acting Mikko, or leader of the Order of Rockys, an elite warrior class of Lycans. Aryana is a princess from another pack who is sent to Trent for training. There are plots within plots, and just when you think something will go a certain way, you find out you are wrong. It's intense and very well written with well developed characters.

‘First of Spring’ is the third book in the Gardinian World series by Kelsey Jordan. It is probably helpful to read the first book, The Lycan Hunter, just to get some background on the complicated world contained in this series which introduces the Lycans (shape shifters) and the Hunters (bad guys) and the brand-new pantheon of gods who created them both. The basic premise is that they (Lycans and Hunters) live in our world but are required by their gods to keep their existence a secret from us mere humans.

I wanted to like this book – I certainly liked the premise. Trent is the leader of the Rockys, which is basically the uber-alpha fighting unit of all Lycan groups. Its membership is highly selective and its members are highly trained. Trent recognizes his “Soul’s Mate” in Aryana, a half-hunter, half-Lycan hybrid. This means insta-lust, alpha-control. Aryana considers herself weak and Trent hates the fact that she is his One. What a delicious tension this could create! The alpha male above all other lesser alpha males stuck with someone he considers inferior, a type of woman he would never have chosen for himself. This is a great setup to explore the resentment and anger that would battle with his innate lust for her and his need to protect. And also for Aryana – what would it feel like to be ‘mated’ with someone who is an unwilling partner? And there is another wrinkle involving prophetic dreams that I won’t spoil, but that should have further ratcheted up the tension. Unfortunately, none of this is explored in any meaningful way and I had to force myself to slog through the book, which I only finished because I had received a copy to review from Librarything.

First: Structure and Character. There were tremendous inconsistencies in both plot and character. Plot threads would come up and seemingly be important, only to be dropped abruptly or be dealt with in such a summary fashion as to negate any previous meaningfulness. The plot was incredibly choppy and often didn’t make any logical sense from one scene to the next. Halfway through the novel the plot suddenly jumps tracks to something entirely different. The writing was almost stream-of-consciousness, which may work for ‘The Outsiders’, but is not a good choice for a paranormal novel where world-building is supposed to happen. Presumably the author wants the reader to be invested in the outcomes of the various conflicts. This is hard to achieve when the plots jumps from one point to the next, with several scenes not really having any importance to the overall narrative. Characters were also inconsistent – someone has one point of view in one scene and then feels something completely different in the next, and then back again, and then off on some third tangent. It made it impossible to empathize with anyone.

Second: Personal preferences. I hate, hate, hate relationships with underlying power imbalances. I don’t mind alpha males as long as some sort of parity is established in the relationship. This is a huge thing for me and I despised the character of Trent. He was a jerk from the start and never even got close to redeeming himself. He had all of the control in the relationship at every step of the way until perhaps the very last three lines of the book. He was nails-on-the-chalkboard for me. At one point he punishes Aryana for something she had no control over. He concedes that the situation wasn’t her fault, but he proceeds anyway, because apparently his hurt is so much more important than hers. He was selfish through most of the book. Then he has the unmitigated gall to be mad at Aryana for wanting him to say ‘I love you’. She should have seen it clearly in his actions! The words are but a feeble substitute that lesser men use! Blech!! But Aryana wasn’t any more likeable. She wavered between being a doormat and a whiny brat. She had all the maturity of a teenager. She essentially ceded all control to Trent until the very, very end. She was complicit in his jerkhood.

Final word: A frustrating read about characters (alpha jerk hero, TSTL heroine) that didn’t work for me personally, inhabiting a novel that was full of inconsistencies in characterizations and lacked a coherent plot structure.

I received this book as a member of the Early Reviewers Group. There are minor spoilers in the review. I gave this book 3 stars because the dynamics of the different characters and worlds are well developed. I enjoyed that part. Unfortunately the personality of most the characters are stiff, dry and unbending. The book is the third in a series, but I really didn't have trouble following the storyline. Additionally, I haven't read the prior books in this series. It takes a few chapters to learn the vocabulary and to understand how the different groups operate and interact.

The main characters of this novel are Trent and Aryanna. Trent is a great warrior, but is so stiff and unbending that he ends up being quite emotionally abusive to Aryanna. His goal appears to be to strengthen Aryanna, who he feels he "owns". In this case, I'm really hoping "owns" means he cares beyond our societies basic definition of love and not that she's a possession he can control for infinity. The author does state that Trent doesn't consider Aryanna a possession, but actions speak louder than words, thus the resulting confusion and it being offensive. Trent does teach Aryanna the skills to be a stronger person and warrior. Aryanna is an omega who has been basically brainwashed by the lunatic God of Fate to be weak and die easily. The Gods are pretty entertaining for the most part. Lykil, God of Destruction, plays the most significant roll in the storyline.

I doubt I read anymore in the series. I'm sure there are readers who lover this series, just not me.

Having not read the first 2 books in the series I was a little confused at first, but able to figure out enough to put characters in their place. Halfway through I remembered that there were 2 other books it might be helpful to read first. I have a hard time saying I "liked" this book, rather I feel a full range of emotions about it, which I think is a good thing in fictional entertainment, and I am enthralled enough to go buy the previous 2 and read them. If you like fully fleshed-out fantasy worlds that are as complicates as our own then I would recommend it.

I received this book for free as an early reviewer.

Not your traditional romance novel. There are some fun lines in the book, but on the whole the abusiveness with which the leading males treat the women they "love", or at least are soul-mates with, is abhorrent. If you are interested in the novel, read the other books in the series first. The author doesn't bother to do any world-building or explanations at the start of the book leaving readers who are unfamiliar with the world confused as to the source of many of the characters' thoughts.

First of Spring by Kelsey Jordan is the third novel of Gardinian World Novels. I would suggest that readers read the series in order since it was a bit confusing starting the series at the third book. The Gardinian World reminded me a great deal of Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark-Hunter series. There are shapeshifters and a meddling pantheon of gods and an endless war between species encouraged by factions of the aforementioned gods. Once I got a sense who the various characters and factions were the book became easier to understand. As world building goes, this is a pretty good effort. The characters were all fully realized and the mythology and society well thought out.
Trent is the acting Mikko, or leader of the Order of Rockys, an elite warrior class of Lycans. Aryana is a princess from another pack who is sent to Trent for training. She has always believed herself to be weak and destined to die young. Together they try to defy meddlesome gods and Aryanna’s fate.
This novel is really three novels in one. I think I might have enjoyed it more if it had been separated into three books and each book filled out a bit more. The Gardinian World has potential however, there seemed to be parts that were rushed or skimmed over. The motivations for some of the actions of the gods were very unclear, although perhaps meant to be resolved in future novels in the series.
The book relies on the alpha male in a relationship with a female with low self esteem trope. The female falling in love with her destined mate no matter how horribly he treats her is a plot device I don’t enjoy. In this case Trent’s treatment of Aryana is particularly abusive. There is another relationship in the novel which also uses elements of submission/dominance in a misogynistic way that I found distasteful. I don’t object to a little BDSM between consenting adults (although not my thing), but I didn’t like the attitudes of a couple of the males in the novel. The happy ending seemed rushed with relationship and other issues unresolved.½

This is a hard book for me to review because I didn't read the first two books. In fact I had never heard of the series, but I found the blurb enticing. First off, the glossary is in the back of the book, which is nice to have one but it should have been in the front. I was so confused with all the titles and names. I even went to the author's webpage to see if there was a glossary there. There isn't. I liked the first part and was excited to see what was going to happen, but the second part of the book was more about the gods. I think if I would've read the other books I would rate this higher. I wanted to just give up a couple of times, but I charged ahead and finished it and was still confused about what happened. And I couldn't pronounce half of the names of the characters.

I received this ARC from the author.

I think I missed an essential part of the story by reading the series out of order and I think I would have enjoyed it much more if I knew the back story. That being said the book had an odd pace to it and I had trouble feeling anything for the main characters. I wanted to like them but did not feel there was much connection between them.

First of let me say that I did enjoy this book. I thought it was creative. It was a storyline and world that was new to me and something I had not read before which I enjoy. I also liked the authors writing. . However, I did find that at times it seemed crowded. There were a lot of stories going on and the focus was taken away from the main characters much of the time. With that being said, I would read more from this author and am interested in the other books in this series as I did not read them prior to this book

(Review also appears on GoodReads)

** spoiler alert **

To sum up my review, I'm just going to say it's all too much; too many characters, too much of an unfamiliar world, too many types of characters. In general, just TOO MUCH.

I got this e-book free as a part of the early reviewer program on LibraryThing.

I didn't realize this book was part of a series until I was 27% into the book and was already frustrated because I didn't know enough about the individual characters, the titles, or the hierarchical structure for all the pieces of the puzzle to fit. That's partly my fault. I did read the abstract and glance at the cover (neither mentioned a series), but I didn't research in-depth because I enjoy reading blind...most of the time. Sadly, I didn't find the glossary of terms until I'd read the very last page of the book (woe is me).

There was just too much going on. There were too many named characters with their own story lines (and now that I know this is a series I can see the author creating room to expand the series). This book should have been 150 pages lighter and focused more on the story of Aryana and Trent.

All the Gods stuff with the exception of how they relate specifically to Aryana and Trent could have been excluded and fleshed out in an entirely different book.

After 60% I was just over this book and ready for it to end.

Trent had the alpha male thing going and Aryana had the lack of self-esteem thing going which is kind of trite but I know it's a commonly used formula and people like to read it for whatever reason. The whole tearing down to build up theme...Not so much, but whatever sells a book.

I have the first two books in this series and I want to read the first one just to see if the context/world/setting is better explained, but then I feel like it'd be a waste if the storyline was as convoluted as it was here.

I see where the author tried to go with this book and I think the concept was a good one, I just think that the focus of the book should have been more narrow (still leaving room for additional storylines like Ryu and Annalise, Lykil and Syrena, Camden and Yumi, Mikko Sean, Nivar, Lance, Kyran and Alexis, and I could go on and on and on).

I'm sure you feel about this review the same way I feel about the book; JUST LET IT END ALREADY!!!

Don't let me deter you. Happy reading!

Rating - 3./5
Warning - Minor spoilers

My feelings about this book are very bipolar. Though this is another author I had not heard of until receiving this book, this means I have not read the previous books in the series even though they seemed like stand alones because the characters in the synopsis are different, this might be why the book was so confusing to me.

First there was a point somewhere in the first half where I almost stopped reading the book though I can’t say why without giving away spoilers, it was so confusing, maybe I need to read the previous books or reread this book even though I had to backtrack many times to understand a little better, I honestly don't know. The story was a little all over the place and I didn’t really see a huge plot, I’m not saying the story is bad, but it was very confusing.

I don't know honestly, to me the characters weren't attachable, so I didn't really have a favorite and like I said, everything was way too confusing. Though I am happy I finished the book because then ending was probably the best thing for me, it was very happy and was a good way to end it without it being too cliche, besides that for most of everything I was neutral about it, didn't like but also didn't hate it.

Would I recommend it? ; If I ever get a chance to read the two previous books, maybe.

I received this book from LibraryThing in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted very much to love this book, as I absolutely love paranormal fiction, but I just couldn't. There were a lot of Gods and Goddesses to try to keep straight, but I was enjoying trying.

As this was Kelsey's first book in the series, I am looking forward to reading the next book to see if it gets easier. Once I start a series, I have to find out how it ends!

I enjoyed this book thoroughly! Kelsey Jordan is a world builder. She managed to create a belief system and a simplified culture for her characters. The characters themselves are interesting -and not just the main characters. The characters stay true the entire book, even with some character development (joker, warrior, ruler...). War and Love are the great themes of the book and she manages them deftly. It is a recommended read!

[Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography (cclapcenter.com). I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.]

When you review as many self-published and basement-press books as I do, one of the unfortunate side effects is coming across novels on a pretty regular basis that should've never graduated from the editing stage in the first place, and that got published into a full book merely because the technology exists to cheaply make it into a published full book, not because it warranted a general release to the public based on its condition; and unfortunately a good example of that is the book I just got done checking out this week, Kelsey Jordan's The Lycan Hunter, which starts right off the bat with a ten-page prologue and beginning chapter that is so ludicrously overwrought and byzantine in its urban-fantasy mythology-building that I literally could not read any more of the book than that, so hopelessly lost I already was in its dozens of names, scores of races, and thousands of years of history it had already puked out by that point, all of it written so badly that I couldn't stand the thought of going back through it again and trying to make more sense of it all. I'm refraining from giving the book an actual score today, because even I can recognize how unfair it is to score a book based on reading only its first ten pages; but you can take the fact that I couldn't get past the first ten pages as a pretty clear sign anyway about whether you should read this or not. The very definition of why people roll their eyes when hearing the words "self-published erotic werewolf saga," it takes a pretty indiscriminate genre fan to have any love for this kind of actively bad writing...although let's face it, those people are probably out there, and are undoubtedly gearing up as we speak to write me an angry comment at Goodreads.com about this review.

Out of 10: N/A

The last thing Lycan Hunter, Alexis James, expects is to be saved by a wolf. Pack leader, Mikko Kyran, will do what it takes to stop the war, even playing nice with the local Lycan Hunter. Neither one of them expects to be part of a prophecy.

Lycan Hunter was an exciting and creative novel. It kept me intrigued and wanting more.

The characters are well-developed and believable. I especially enjoyed, Mikko Kyran, founder and leader of The Order of the Rockys. He is a likeable character and good leader.

The plot was original and carefully thought out. This story felt unique and complex. Jordan did a wonderful job with her descriptions and painting a vivid world.

Complimentary copy provided in exchange for an honest review.

Dnf after reading almost 75%. I just wasn't enjoying reading this. I'm trying to clear my tbr pile for 2014 and I just wasn't enjoying this read. There was a lot of work put into this book with the whole Gods, and pack, and hunters but the plot was anything but simple and straight forward. The characters anything but likable. Kept trying to kill each other....so it just wasn't for me.

The two novellas in this book take place after the first book in The Guardian World Series. If you can get the first book (The Lycan Hunter), it would probably be helpful to read it first. The world is complex and it was a bit hard to follow at first without having the background of the world or an introduction to the characters. Overall I thought the first novella was quite good, but the second was too focused on the sex.½

This book continued the story of Omar and Anise, that was briefly touched on towards the end of the previous novel (The Lycan Hunter) in the series in addition to introducing the mysterious, brooding and seriously bada$$ Tyson, his love interest Harmony and one of my new favorite characters, Trent. Lykil, Torin and Ronin also made appearances, more so in the second novella than the first, however they were on hand to snuggle babies and readily provide pithy comments and comedic smack-downs.
The book was separated into two novellas with the first one focusing primarily on Omar and Anise, and the second on Tyson and Harmony. Honestly, this novel “read” a bit awkward especially compared to the first novel. There was very little introduction to Omar and Anise’s story with the action beginning almost immediately. You could tell there had been some sort of communication between the two characters that led up to where the novel actually began, however the actually details (when/where/why, etc) were omitted from the storyline. The first novella just felt a bit “rushed”, like you didn’t get a chance to really immerse yourself in the story and/or the characters before it ended. Also, the epilogue for the first novella was years after where the second novella began. I realize this is just my OCD and that it was placed to provide an “end” of sorts for Omar and Anise’s story however the timeline in both novellas appeared to overlap and may have made the novel feel less “rushed” if they had been told concurrently. I enjoyed the second novella more than the first as the “storyline” transitioned a bit better and felt less “rushed” than it did in the first novella.
That being said, I continue to truly enjoy all of the characters created by Kelsey. They are unique and novel, which is refreshing considering lately no matter what you read you feel like you've read it already (and it wasn’t that great the first time) and the characters names have just been changed... I look forward to the next novel in her series.

The Den at Lycan’s Corner

Since you’ve gotten to the review section of the webpage, I’m assuming you’ve already read the plot summary so I’ll jump right into my review.

I wanted to like this book – I generally love paranormal romances. This particular one disappointed me, however, both in its structure and the character development. The structure felt more like an A. A. Milne book and in that spirit, I’ve decided to construct my review with a nod to the Hundred Acre Wood and all due deference to Milne. (Love ya, Pooh Bear!)

Chapter ‘Prologue’: In which the author introduces a bewildering plethora of brand new gods styled on the Greek/Roman mythological system.

**Sorry – already going to break my review structure because I think this deserves more explanation. Kelsey Jordan is one of the latest authors to leap into the world of paranormal romance series. (Do publishers require every book must begin a series now??) It’s a world that’s become rather crowded of late. As a consequence these novels tend to look increasingly derivative as authors have to work harder for ways to be unique with werewolves, vampires and fairies. This book makes a valiant attempt at newness with an original mythology. With this imagined religion are introduced many rituals and a new lexicon. The author clearly has had some fun and spent some considerable time defining all the new gods and goddesses. There was a lot of potential here to do something novel with the series. This type of wholesale invention can present a challenge however, as it requires quite a lot of skillful exposition/introduction to enlighten the reader. Unfortunately that challenge is not well met in “The Lycan Hunter”. Too much of the information was downloaded in this mighty info dump of a prologue. I felt like I needed a family tree and a dictionary of terms.

Chapter Several Numbers: In which Alexis, the allegedly No. 1 Female Hunter, proves why Hunters should be extinct by getting mortally wounded AGAIN while putting up the flimsiest defense possible only to have the door to death slammed shut by the serendipitously medically gifted Kyran and fit for battle in a day.

Chapter Multiple Numbers: In which Kyran is mortally wounded AGAIN, healed by his serendipitously medically gifted brother and 2nd-in-command, and ready to fight battles mere hours later.

Chapter A Few Numbers: In which Alexis inexplicably starts wearing dresses because she doesn’t feel comfortable working out in the pack’s gym (?) and I wondered why Kyran is buying her dresses and heels when she would clearly be more comfortable in fatigues. (Female fighters are sexy y’all – Angelina Jolie?! No dresses required…)

Chapter Number Excruciating Slog: In which we learn in exhaustive and unnecessary detail about Lycan Wedding Rules and Terminology (which really doesn’t advance the overall plot so … why?).

Chapter Too Many Numbers: In which characters do uncharacteristically idiotic things simply to position the plot for the author’s next move.

Chapter Sometimes: In which the All-Powerful Gods sweep in and clean up. Except when they don’t.

Chapter The End: In which the reader is challenged to identify and match derivative elements from the following authors: J.R. Ward, Christine Feehan, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Nalini Singh, Gena Showalter (and possibly others I’ve yet to read).

Chapter Book Review: In which this reader liked the premise and promise of “The Lycan Hunter” but finished the book irritated with the choppy plot structure and the inconsistent characters of the book’s hero and heroine.

It was okay. It was enjoyable, a good summer read I suppose, but there was just way too many characters. The timing/pace of the book confused me a bit as well (so I usually went back to re-read). However, I still look forward to the next book.