Review Post : The Unleashing by Shelly Laurenston (4 Stars)

The Unleashing by Shelly Laurenston
Published by Kensington Books on 31-03-2015
Genres: Paranormal Romance
Pages: 400
Format: eBook
Goodreads

WINGING IT

Kera Watson never expected to face death behind a Los Angeles coffee shop. Not after surviving two tours lugging an M16 around the Middle East. If it wasn’t for her hot Viking customer showing up too late to help, nobody would even see her die.

In uncountable years of service to the Allfather Odin, Ludvig “Vig” Rundstrom has never seen anyone kick ass with quite as much style as Kera. He knows one way to save her life—but she might not like it. Signing up with the Crows will get Kera a new set of battle buddies: cackling, gossiping, squabbling, party-hearty women. With wings. So not the Marines.

But Vig can’t give up on someone as special as Kera. With a storm of oh-crap magic speeding straight for L.A., survival will depend on combining their strengths: Kera’s discipline, Vig’s loyalty… and the Crows’ sheer love of battle. Boy, are they in trouble.

FTC : I got this for a honest review from NetGalley.

I was so excited for the start of a new series from Shelly Laurenston. I love her books, often finding myself laughing out-loud at the antics of her characters. I love the way she writes larger than life, diverse characters and this book was absolutely no different. I laughed from start to finish but I have to admit that I had to read it twice before reviewing it; there is so much new information!

This is a world of second lives and Viking Gods. The Gods take the dead and dying and offer them a choice; mite out divine justice and get a second chance at life or die. Different God’s have different clans and in this new story we are introduced to them all but the tale focuses on the Ravens and the Crows. Our main protagonists come from the different clans but this isn’t a Romeo and Juliet story. Vig adored Kira before she was ever part of a clan and willingly petitioned a God to put her into the other clan. This is more like My Fair Lady with Vikings. And sex. Lots and lots of sex. And psycho red-heads….. 🙂

I loved the love story between Vig and Kira. She is a typical strong Laurensten heroine; a fiesty woman with a big mouth and  back-bone. He is a grumpy man with a protective streak, and a slightly obsessive crush, but they worked so well together. I loved watching them grow as a couple, him using the time he spent teaching her to try to get her to trust in her obvious attraction for him. They made me laugh but they also left me with an overall feeling of warmth and happiness. They lived up to every expectation.

I struggled slightly with the world building. It wasn’t that it was done badly, it was the sheer volume that I was expected to take in. This is obviously going to be a big series, with a great deal of supernatural threads underpinning it, and that needs a lot of back-story. I found it a lot easier going the second time round and I can’t wait for the next in the series.

The side characters were hilarious. From the sublime to the ridiculous, they all brought a bit of something to the story and I cannot wait to see who gets the next one and how the blooming hell she pulls it off. Some of the characters are absolute a-holes … I can’t wait to find out which poor sucker has to tame those.

Overall, this is an exciting start to the new series. It is laugh out loud funny, jaw droppingly sexy and exactly what I’ve come to expect from Laurenston. I loved it and I can’t wait to see what comes next.