I love discovering new worlds through talented writers and Notorious is an awesome example of this. Charlie Cochet and Macy Blake have created a fascinating new world set in and alongside our contemporary world. I found the characters to be well-developed and worth getting to know. The concept of a regency-aged society with all the modern attachments is engaging. The world is fascinating and becoming more developed as each story is read. The plot is interesting with enough twists and turns to engage readers. I found that overall this book was a 5/5. ( )

Notorious is co-written by Charlie Cochet and Macy Blake, and is the first book in the ‘Shifter Scoundrels’ series. This stars Caspian ‘Cas’ Drake, a fox shifter, and Saphir Vepkhia, a tiger shifter. This is told in third person from both Cas and Saphir’s povs.



Before I get into my review, since it’s going to be a long one, I want to say that this is the one of the best books I’ve read this year, if not the last few years. I couldn’t stop thinking about it once I finished and I have so many questions! If I have questions and think about a book days after I’ve finished reading it, that means the story has grabbed me. And this one did. I was completely immersed in the world the authors created. Not all stories are perfect, and I noticed things some may not, or not care about; I still loved this story and can’t wait to read the next one in the series. Anyway, on to the review.

First the cover. Just by looking at it, it looks like it was created by Natasha Snow, probably my all-time favorite cover designer. The cover is eye catching, a beautiful piece of art. I find men with bleached blond hair very attractive, and in the book, Caspian is a white fox shifter, so he has white fur, and white hair. Unfortunately, the cover model looks like he has bleached blond hair with dark roots and dark facial hair, which would make him not a white fox, but someone with dark hair that’s bleached blond. I wish his hair had been all white to match his shifter fox. Also, I don’t remember Cas having facial hair in the story. Maybe he did and it was a brief mention, but throughout the story, I imagined Cas as clean shaven. So even though I love the cover and the model, I don’t feel like it truly represents Cas.

The authors did a terrific job of creating a balance between romance and mystery. The two blended well together, and seamlessly segued from romance to mystery and back again. It was so skillfully done, that I didn’t notice a slow down in pace. In fact, this story is fast paced with the Christmas holiday scenes the breather readers need before the climactic ending. The story kept me on the edge of my seat and I didn’t want to put it down. Another thing I liked, was that in this shifter society, who shifters decided to bed and how didn’t appear to be of significance like in human society. If a shifter found someone they were attracted to, that was fine and not a big deal. The big deal was more about status than gender.

The blurb does a good job of explaining the plot so I won’t go into it much. I do have lots of questions about the dragon created world, but understand many of those questions will be answered in upcoming books. Questions include: How can the whole society function around the outside human world? The lower ranks of nobles’ homes aren’t within the ring of the King’s protective illusion. So, when those royals travel from within the King’s protective bubble to outside of it into human view, do they just pop into thin air when driving or walking? What about their businesses? Are those alongside human businesses like in Harry Potter but just invisible? About their money. I understand it’s old money, but all those lavish balls and estates, money is spent and if you want more, you have to earn it. How do the Higher Royals keep earning money? Is it created by the King and handed out to them? Do the Higher Royals have investments in human companies and reap the rewards? Money is incurred from somewhere. They can’t just exist on old money. Even old money with humans is invested, bought, sold, etc. I want to know what the royals do for jobs? Because if all they have are parties and upping one another with rituals and gossip, that has to be mind-blowingly boring, not to mention toxic. I mean look at the way they compete or look down on others who don't follow the rules. It's not a healthy society. Saphir at least has the farm and he can earn money from whatever the farm produces. Was Cas just living off his father’s money with no occupation until the catastrophe at the castle? He had his own residence, but who paid for it? And how did Cas maintain it on what money if he didn’t have a job?

I also have a question about the smoke creatures. I’ll put this behind another spoiler in case people haven’t read that far yet. In the underground maze while Cas, Saphir, and Quinton were in the hall heading for the exit door, they stopped and started to exchange ‘I love you’s’. The scene was funny and adorable. I loved it. But, I could also see that the smoke monsters that were blocking the exit door were not attacking them. Throughout the many escapes and running around underground, every time a smoke monster appeared, it attacked them. This happened over and over, a consistent pattern. Why didn’t the monsters do it at the door? Yes, as written it conveniently made a cute I love you scene, and led up to Saphir mentioning why they were waiting to escape. At the same time, it went totally against the behavior of the monsters up to that point. I can’t help noticing scenes that are written like this that don’t jive with what happened before, and unfortunately, I found it annoying and slightly ruined the love speech for me because the smoke monsters didn’t behave consistently. I mean, I’m writing about it in this review, so yes, I noticed it didn’t make sense. I’m not sure if this was an error to be fixed before publication, but somehow it seemed the scene was written as planned and not something forgotten.

I did read an ARC copy so I’m not reviewing on missing words or grammar, which this book had very few to the point of almost non-existent. The formatting was also well done. The questions I did have were with thoughts and scenes that didn’t seem to be consistent with something previously mentioned, or that an answer came so late (in my opinion), that so much happened in-between, that the answer didn’t quite go with a previous comment/thought/action. They were tiny, hard to pinpoint, but I did notice something wasn’t quite right. I didn’t note them in the story as I read, but they were enough to catch my attention.

The cast of characters were amazing. From the beginning Cas, Saphir, and all the rest were vivid personalities, with their own traits that stayed consistent throughout the story. Cas appears to be in his mid-twenties, and I’m guessing Saphir is somewhere in his mid-forties. He mentions that he spent decades training as a guard and Captain. If he started at fifteen, decades would be say, three decades and he’d be at least, mid-forties. No mention is made of how long shifters live, but I’m guessing longer than humans. The way Cas and Saphir loved to aggravate each other was off the charts. I don’t think there was anyone who stood up to Cas like Saphir. Saphir was not the kind of person to become a sit at your desk farmer looking over bookkeeping. He was a man of action with a tender heart. Cas kept Saphir on his toes and that’s what he needed. It at first didn’t look like they were suited for each other, but in fact were perfectly suited. There are mechanizations by the King and Lady Aaliyah to pair the two up at the ball. What I don’t understand is why Aaliyah scolds Cas for falling in love with Saphir when they set them up. They had to know it was a possibility, especially later when Saphir says he’s sure the King and Aaliyah knew what they were doing with the match. I found it inconsistent behavior with Aaliyah not acknowledging that they didn’t take into consideration with them falling in love and instead chastising Cas. The King’s and her behavior, was inconsistent with her comment to Cas. It was another thing that stuck out at me. One question I have is what did Suri do? I don’t think she worked or went to school. We saw her reading once and going to parties which she adored. What did she actually do? It’s no wonder she loved the gossip and parties since she didn’t seem to have a vocation or anything to do in her life. I also wonder what kind of shifter she is.

I’m hoping there are follow-up stories where Quintin and Beau both find their HEA’s. Even with Suri, she’s of the age where she could marry. Which makes me wonder, the King had a mate, what happened to the Queen? Would the King remarry? Could he possibly marry Suri? She’s such a sweet person, he could be happy with her. Maybe he even has a long-lost son who is part human! I know, I know, outlandish thoughts, but I told you this book had me thinking of all sorts of questions.

In any case, I loved Notorious despite the few discrepancies I noticed, and the ton of questions I have. This book is a great read and I highly recommend it to everyone. It’s one of the few books I’d re-read and I am not a re-reader unless the book is very good. I give this one, 5 Stars and can’t wait to read the next story in the series, which appears to be about a human and Brandt’s fiancé.



I received an ARC from the authors. I’m giving my honest and unbiased review. ( )