I loved it. All of it. Can I have more of it?

Also...thralling. New favorite word. ( )

When I read the sample of this book, I didn't hesitate and bought the book itself right away. After reading it... I must say, such a damn good decision it was!! :D
I mean, I laughed my ass off, I facepalmed, I scowled and pretty much everything in between. The Crows are just bloody (you can take that literally) awesome :D

Worldbuilding was good, it takes place in present time Earth, only regular humans have no idea supes are living among them. Everything was well detailed and well described.

Character development was very good. Kera goes through a lot of changes and while she had (a bit of) a stick up her arse at the start, she mellowed out soon enough thanks to Vig, our yummy hottie of the day. Of course, it is understandable and not that easy to come to terms with not only being killed in an alley behind your shitty job but living your second life in honour of the Goddess Skuld... as a Crow... that can fly... Fun times :D
But at least she has her dog Brodie with her (though she turns traitor soon enough, bad dog! :D )

While the book has a high PNR content, I think of it more an ideal mix of PNR and UF. I just looooove mythology :D

Pacing and flow were good, finished this book in one go so it had me hooked :D
Good balance between conversation and action.

The book itself was well written with no (noticeable) errors. And yes, there is sex described in the book (if that is important to you).

All in all a very enjoyable read! Already have book 2 in my TBR list, and seeing it will be about our lovely and deadly Jace, I'm so looking forward to it! ( )

A wonderful read!

The world that Shelly Laurenston has created is full of detail. Keri died and became a crow, a winged female warrior in service to the Norse God Skund. They are the Strike teams or hit squad of the pantheon. The Ravens are the male equivalent but in service to Odin. Oh, and the guys don't have to die first.
While learning how to be a Crow and falling in love with a Raven, Keri and her new sisters are called upon to find missing power objects and discover an old old being trying to come to our world.
The book does end on a cliffhanger. ( )

Almost really good. Will read the next one, but it's missing something, idk what tho. ( )

This book was interesting esp with all the Norse mythology from a different POV.
And it's Shelly Laurenston so there's some crazy opinionated women and crazy things going on, steamy romance, plus fighting. Not to mention vikings ( )

Exciting and funny. Glad to have a new Laurenston series to read! ( )

[a:Shelly Laurenston|65137|Shelly Laurenston|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] writes great stories. Like every story I've read, I have yet to rate anything of hers beneath 4 stars and most of them are sorted straight into my favourites shelf. There's always a kickass heroine, snarky humour and interesting action filled plots with a decently written romance. The Unleashing is no different. Kera is wickedly awesome. Vig was adorable. And the world building is incredible. It's so utterly different from the usual run of the mill shapeshifter, paranormal type plots. It could be because this is one of the first lot of Norse inspired novels I've read - it's still utterly new and fascinating to me. I guess when you've read so many of the same plot, it takes a lot to stand out and I guess all readers have varying opinions depending on where in their reading history the book stands. I enjoy the fact there is more to her books than just the romance aspect - there's an actual story with a mystery and intrigue and action - and it's good. ( )

This book was a mixture of corniness and outrageous but something about it pulled me in and kept me reading. The author's humor and the way the characters said and did hilarious but foul things reminded me of my friends and family. It probably wouldn't appeal to polite company but polite company bores the hell out of me.

Kera is an ex-Marine who works at a coffee house until she gets stabbed to death in an alley. As she lay dying, the guy she thought was a homeless vet holds her and sends up a prayer to Skuld, a Norse god, to save her.

She has been given a second life. She now is part of the Crow Clan, women from all races who fight for Skuld. But she is having a hard time transitioning because the Crows thrive on chaos and ate unorganized. When she tries to organize them, they want none of it.

I really connected with a lot of the characters in this book and I appreciated that the main character, along with many of the other women, was a woman of color. More Paranormal Romances need to do this.

I went ahead and downloaded the next book in the series. ( )

*** Disclaimer: so many spelling mistakes and I don't want to correct them. Just blame it on the fact that I'm a lazy person I'm not a native speaker.***

I.... did not like it.

I'm in shocked because although Shelly Laurenston has a way of describing people which irks me on occasion, most of the time I can ignore that and just enjoy the story and the humor.

So I was shocked when I read this story and found myself not enjoying it.



TOO MANY PEOPLE!

Also I like Vikings but 90% of the time they are historically incorrect. Seriously they weren't all blond haired and blue eyed. THEY TRAVELLED PEOPLE! MADE BABIES WITH OTHER CULTURES! DO THE MATH! ( )

Fun, fluff. Think I got a weird copy, as there were a bunch of what looked like editing errors, but *shrugs* story was worth it. Read almost like a young adult book in places, but with a pile of romance novel style sex scenes. Loved that it tossed out a bunch of the usual romance tropes, though.

A good read. ( )

New to this author but I like her style.

Kera is a former Marine trying to adjust to civilian life. Though she considers herself lucky to survive 2 tours in Afghanistan with all her limbs intact and no PTSD she's not adjusting well. A low paying job and a rescued dog is all that keeps her going.

One night while taking out the trash at the coffee shop she tries to stop a man beating on his girlfriend and what does she get for her troubles...a butcher knife to the chest. Now comes the fun part.

Our Marine is brought back to life by a Norse God and made part of the Crow Clan. Yup, as the name suggests she will have wings. Part of the deal Kera made with Skuld (the Goddess in this case) was she would come back to life only if she could bring her dog, Brodie Hawaii with her. (That turns out to be quiet a spectacle towards the middle of the book)

Kera was given this chance but an otherwise silent and brooding Viking belonging to the Raven Clan...can't remember his full name but her goes by Vig. He's the blacksmith of the clan, a fierce warrior and not known for being a barrel of laughs. That is until Kera sees him and remembers he is the one who saw her dying and called out to Skuld to give her a second life. Seems Mr. Broody has had a major crush on Kera for quite some time and she was nice to him thinking he was a homeless vet with PTSD.

Now I'm not going to get into the individual members of the clans as I think we will get to know them more as the series goes on. I will say there are some colorful (and one clinically diagnosed psychopath) among them. And while there are references to mythology the author gives us enough to understand the relationships of the clans, the purpose and some history of them. And for our Marine the transition is anything but simple. For a while there we wonder if she will ever fit in and learn how to fly. Great humor and smart ass come backs.

The love story is funny and steamy but not over done. Friendships start to appear where only animosity existed before. We learn of the villain who is going to try to take over the world... sound like a pretty scary goddess if you ask me.

I'm thinking I am going to like this series. It's got some gory fight scenes but some of the hazing they do to one another...sounds like me and my friends. Looking forward to the second book. ( )

Two and a half stars--it was fine, but not great. There was some excellently structured tension between Kera and her Crow mentor, which I really enjoyed, but what really held the story back was the quality of the actual writing, sentence-wise. But! It's a great plane read, which is precisely what I needed. Nothing too hefty. ( )

Bought this on sale. It wasn't bad. Funny dialogue like usual with SL and LOTS of characters.

A solid 3.5. I enjoyed the humor of this book and that it didn't feel like sex scenes were interrupting the good stuff, but the plotting was not great. I'm going to try the next one and see how it goes. ( )

This is the story of how a murderous cult uses sex, magic, money and manipulation to brainwash a Marine.

One of the challenges of fiction in general, and fantasy/scifi in particular, is to persuade the reader to buy in to a particular moral/ethical system and worldview-- in this case, that of the Vikings as extrapolated to a modern day environment where pagan gods are real. In this case, that worldview includes the "Crows," a group of resurrected women whose purpose is to kill on behalf of their goddess. This killing is contextualized as being in revenge for, and support of, oppressed women, as well as helping maintain the balance of the worlds to prevent Ragnarok.

It seems like this would be a pretty easy sell-- show the reader some nasty rapists and the Crows killing them, or the Crows beheading the leader of an evil cult as she tries to invoke a demon or something. Instead, the first "Crow mission" our main character (Kera) and the reader see is a raid to kill a bunch of moon-worshipping naked would-be witches who have accidentally gotten their hands on a powerful magical necklace. Kera talks the Crows out of killing the witches, in favor of getting the necklace by tricking the (pretty obviously high off their asses) witch/hippies who have no idea that it isn't just a pretty bauble. This act has zero consequences later on, leading me to conclude that there wasn't any reason to kill them in the first place. Which makes the whole "killers of the goddess to prevent Ragnarok" seem kind of hollow. How many unnecessary slaughters have the Crows committed over the centuries? How are these women (two of whom are the protagonists of the next two novels) not just murderous psychopaths?

I kept reading, hoping that by the time Kera was convinced to fully throw in with the Crows, I would be too. But instead, Kera gets her mind changed via a magical mind-meld with a Crow Seer where she goes back in time to see the first Crows being created from abused and raped slaves. Given that Kera is a Marine, and therefore knows there are ways of defending powerless people aside from wanton murdering, I don't see why being viscerally confronted with atrocities that happened in the years BC made her immediately go over to the "yay blood guts and mindless rage" side.

In short, I was unconvinced and disturbed by the entire book. ( )

Vig is this shy Viking feared by all who has been crushing on Kera for months, while she, a former marine, who thought he was a damaged vet. When she's murdered he reaches out to Skuld to give her a second life. While not quite as funny as other series there are many laugh out loud moments. One of my favorite quotes, from Vig's friend speaking to Vig, "Do you need another minute to blush coquettishly and dream about your perfect white wedding?" I think this will be another great series by Shelly, with lots of neurotic characters and interesting personalities, including her dog whom she wouldn't accept a second life without.
( )

3 1/2 stars. Not the best book I ever read, but it was fun & entertaining. I laughed out loud more than once.

The cover is WAY more appealing than the description of Vig with his gross mountain man beard...:/

I'll read on.

*edit:

Really fun series as a whole. Loved it. Wish she’d write more! ( )

Good start to a series and with a really interesting Viking based world.

I found myself really interested in all the gods aspect of this and their clans. I didn't love the heroine at all though. She could be rather grating at times. I do think that the other crow ladies often came across as way more interesting. ( )

I think this one fell a little short for me only because their were so many pov's and they were a little hard to distinguish in the audiobook version. I'm really looking forward to reading more of this series but will actually read it and not listen. ( )

While I admit to be thoroughly intrigued by the idea behind this book I am not completely in love the with the final result.

The Good: Among the over played vampire and werewolf themed paranormal worlds this was such an an interesting and fresh concept (if one overlooks the fact that this author wrote another book featuring the Crow/Raven world called Hunting Season in 2009). I love mythology and factor in that it is Norse mythology at that I could have seriously loved this book. The book starts out so good. Kera starts the book out with a bang and I just knew I was in for a treat. A truly Kick-Ass heroine, add a dashing hot viking of a man, stir in Norse mythology, throw in some snark and viola! A concoction of fabulousness! Not so much....

The Bad: As a romance I felt it fell flat. I think the book focused on Kera getting used to her new life rather than a substantial romance. They had quite a bit of sex but romance, not so sure about that. I really think that there was enough conflict surrounding Kera that spreading her romance over the course of several books would have made for a stronger sense of commitment between the H/h.

Speaking of her new life as a Crow...ugh! The crows reminded me of a bunch of bubble brained sorority girls rather than the intelligent adults they were supposed to be. Their sink or swim mentality on welcoming a new sister was seriously flawed and didn't endear them to me at all.

Let's talk characters! There is an extraordinary amount of characters in this book. I know in a first book there is an introduction phase where the author tries to establish their world and characters. However, it's important to not overwhelm the reader with dozens of people to remember. In this book, not only do we have to keep track of their first names but their last names too because the author will refer to them by first and then a paragraph later by their last name. This is further complicated by changing POVs throughout the book. It was sometimes difficult to know whose point of view we were now reading from one paragraph to another.

In a Nut Shell: Very little is ultimately resolved at the end of the book but I'm not sure I'm wanting to read another. I hate when a book has so much potential and fails so miserably. ( )

I am a huge fan of Ms. Laurenston's work. Unfortunately, I can only give this book 3 stars. The first 46% of the book was very un-Laurenston like; it was dry, dull, and boring....I debated continuing to read it. However, I'm glad that I did because the last half of the book was funny, battle ridden, sexy, and so much like a Laurenston original. I think it's a decent start to a new series. ( )

Romantic Paranormal Thriller that came recommended by the Smart Bitches at Smart Bitches Trashy Books. Every Friday, they put out a newsletter of books on discounted sale, along with commentary on each of the titles on the slate. Even with the recs, buying from the list can be dicey, and this one was absolutely ridiculous: A former female US Marine is given a second life with super strength through the intervention of Norse/Viking deities; and becomes a member of a group of like-saved women. The love interest is a fierce Viking god who has a sensitive side. Lots of killing, a couple scenes of graphic sex, and a bit of a cliffhanger ending :-/ ( )

I am a huge fan of [a:G.A. Aiken|1395810|G.A. Aiken|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_50x66-6a03a5c12233c941481992b82eea8d23.png]'s dragons... but I sometimes forget that she also writes under [a:Shelly Laurenston|65137|Shelly Laurenston|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1303073485p2/65137.jpg]. This is the first Laurenston book that I am reading... and the writing style seems a bit different, if that makes sense.

First let me start out by saying that I listened to this book in audio. If you follow my reviews, you know I do a lot of audiobooks while I am getting ready for work, driving, cooking, cleaning, etc. I love audiobooks. But this is not a book that I recommend in the audio format. There were SO many points of view - seriously - like twenty. Most of the time I didn't know who was talking or being referred to. Have you ever listened to a book and you felt more like you were listening to a movie? That is how I felt. Don't get me wrong, I liked the story. I think it would even make a good movie. But I can't tell you much about what happened. Actually, I can say what happened, but not necessarily tell you who did what.

See, there are these Crows, they are women who have been given a second chance at life by the Norse goddess Skuld. The Crows are the harbingers of death and are sent in to kill things. They stick together and are generally kickass chicks. They were also pretty funny as you can imagine a group of crazy killing women could be. The focus of the book was more on Kera, a new crow and former marine. She has a sweet and ferocious rescued pit bull sidekick. But I would say that just as much of the book was dedicated to the other Crows, hence the many many points of view.

In addition to the crows, there are ravens, valkyries, giant killers, and a host of other things from Norse ancestry (and yes, you get their POVs also). All the groups kind of have a love-hate relationship. They seem to be fighting on the same side, but they also have a lot of fights between clans. Each clan belongs to a different Norse god. The ravens and valkyries owe allegiance to Odin. I think Freya has a clan, but I am not sure who her people are.

So Kera ends up in a quick and dirty relationship with a raven, Ludvig ("Vig"), who most people seem to be scared of. I liked the relationship between these two. Vig has had a crush on Kera since before she died... and she thought he was a schizophrenic vet with head trauma. Vig seems to have a little trouble with women, which was quite endearing. For everyone to think he is so scary and ferocious, he was a big teddy bear with Kera.

About half the story is dedicated to Kera being initiated into her new life as a crow in the midst of a big dangerous plot. Maybe about 10% of the book was romance, there was much less focus on romance than the rest of the story, but there was enough in there so that this was not just straight action/supernatural thriller. The other 40% of the story was dedicated to the aforementioned big dangerous plot. Things are being stolen from other clans, and the Crows are being blamed because of their reputation as scavengers. So the Crows have to discover what is going on while carrying out the missions for Skuld. I don't want to say more about the dangerous plot because its really something you are unraveling as you listen/read and I don't want to spoil anything.

I feel like this may be the most confusing review that I have ever written. I think that accurately reflects my state of mind as I was trying to listen and decipher what was going on. I do find it a little odd that I enjoyed the story so much even though I didn't know what was happening sometimes. I wish it would have been a little more cohesive, with fewer points of view. I am hoping that if I read the next book, some of the confusion will be cleared up.

4 stars / 3 flames. ( )

This book was exactly what I needed to read. Not some cheesy romance but something paranormally funny and refreshing. Yeah, ok...if truth has to be told, there is a bit of cheesy romance here too but there are also big, bad Vikings so things are balanced for me. XD

As usual the book is not at all perfect. It's always a matter of moment/needs/likings that flash green or red lights in my reader mind. Even if the good part of the story starts only near the middle of the book, when the real action begins and the basic knowledge required to understand things is settled for all the parties involved (means both the reader and Kera), the overall feeling was definitely a BIG green. In the first part, there was a bit of confusion and sometimes I felt irritated with Kera and the other Crows, this group of powerful women who are the harbingers of death. Given a second chance in life by the Goddess Skuld (for whom they work) they are, after entering the Crows Clan, part of the Norse pantheon of Clans in wait of Ragnarok, the great and final battle. However they are also noisy, blood thirsty, cat-fight-loving, rowdy women and Kera, has an ex Marine with OC syndrome and the "new girl" in the Clans, finds herself in the middle of a major complicated mess.

Anyway, I liked very much the way the author used the Norse mythology for her story, even if I was often picturing in my head the "Marvel movies" Thor every time I was reading about the Raven Clan (you'll undersand when you'll read this). Finally, I absolutely loved Vig, the big bear of a Vinking that helps Kera in her new life, and Brodie, the cutest pitt-bull ever in the history of books... but I hope Kera will grow and settle in her Crow new status because she really needs it.

Quotes from the book:

Vig walked back to his truck. That’s when Stieg drily asked, “Do you need another minute to blush coquettishly and dream about your perfect white wedding?” As Vig walked around the front of his vehicle, he grabbed Stieg by the hair and slammed him face-first into the hood.

...

“Okay then.” She nodded. “Then let’s do this.”
“Now before we start, there is one thing you always need to keep in mind during this process.”
“What?”
“That everyone, at some point in their life, wants to fly. And soon you’ll actually be doing it.”
“Which means . . . what? Exactly.”
“That you’re better than everyone else.”


http://azurestrawberry.altervista.org/review-shelly-laurenston-the-unleashing-ca... ( )

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: A marine turned Crow, and Viking Raven and darkness that is coming to devour them all.

Opening Sentence: She didn’t know what woke her up.

The Review:

Kera is a former Marine who is killed and offered a second chance at life. She is then dropped into a house with new sisters, which are a Viking clan called Crows. For the most part they are the complete opposite of Kera and at least one spectacular fight breaks out from Kera’s organizational skills. There are multiple clans serving all of the different Norse gods. The only thing any of the Crows have in common is that they are known for their rage, their hatred and their loyalty to each other.

Kera finds out Vig is a Raven, another Viking Clan that serves Odin. Vig was a repeat customer at the coffee shop Kera worked at before her life so drastically changed. Kera also makes the Skuld bring her dog with her, although at the time she doesn’t realize that Brodie has to die too. Brodie quickly becomes the new mascot at the sorority type house Kera finds herself living in, in her new life.

There are several POV’s in this book including Chloe and Erin (who is Kera’s new mentor and the Crow she gets into an epic fist fight with.) Chloe is the leader of this particular chapter, apparently there are many all over the world. The first half of the book is really getting to sort of know Kera and her new sisters and her developing relationship with Vig (the blacksmith for the Ravens or weapons master). The second half brings to light that something dark and dangerous is attacking the clans and that one clan alone probably won’t make it against this darkness.

I enjoyed the book, although it did drag a little in the beginning. Sometimes it was a little confusing whose point of view it was at the time, but for the most part the author was on it. I feel like I have read a lot of books lately with gods, or Norse gods in them. This one didn’t have them active as of yet but definitely their presence was felt. I did really like the fact that Kera was a former Marine and that she ends up deciding to run a non-profit for rescue dogs that pairs them with veterans.

As a former Marine myself there were several parts of the book that made me laugh out loud and I appreciated the author really portraying her in such a positive manner. Overall, I liked it, didn’t quite love or really like it but I enjoyed it and thought it had a lot of interesting concepts and characters. My only issue is that it could be confusing and some of the world building really needed to be fleshed out.

Notable Scenes:

“He was just an introvert with an aversion to shaving.”

“A whistle caught their attention and the Silent looked up… to see the trees filled with Chloe’s sister-Crows.”

“They stood straight and ready for battle.”

FTC Advisory: Kensington provided me with a copy of The Unleashing. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. ( )