Kati WildeRezensionen

»O day and night, but this is wondrous strange!« (Horatio in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, act 1, scene 5.)

And so is this novel! Though it has some truly great ideas, they are often immediately overshadowed by banality and crudeness… Before I get ahead of myself, though, let me quickly state that this is it (for now) with Christmas romances but I came across the title - “The Wedding Night Before Christmas” - and couldn’t help myself but read it.

Beyond its strangeness, this was a winner for me and this is mostly due to the extremely relatable Audrey “Motherfuckin’” Clarke - how could I not root for her?!

»Two documents, exactly the same—except one was stapled on the diagonal, and the other stapled vertically.
Who does that? Only a monster.«

(Indeed, Audrey, and isn’t it almost as bad if the staple is not either precisely vertical, horizontal or - best of all! - on a precise 45° diagonal?!)

Audrey, the female protagonist and rock upon which this novel safely rests, is a capable, powerful, intelligent, self-made rich, attractive and neurodivergent woman.

»I’m not cold. But I don’t express myself in the same way many people do. I can barely tolerate people touching me or touching them in return. Affection isn’t physical for me; it’s mental and emotional. So I show affection by showing interest—and it’s impossible for me to feign interest if I don’t care about what someone is talking about or doing. But even when I do care, I know my manner comes off as lacking in warmth. If I could act, maybe I could fake it. But I’m not any better at pretending than I am at lying. So I can’t be anything other than who I am.«

Caleb, the male protagonist, approaches Audrey because he needs her financial backing to get even with a family who is trying to sue him out of his inheritance. His unconventional idea: He proposes marriage to Audrey and she accepts on the spot.

At this point, I looked up the author, Kati Wilde, to see if I had accidentally stumbled into a male wish-fulfilment fantasy… (Looks like I hadn’t.)

Caleb also swears all the time. For no fucking reason at all. In every second sentence. I’m not fucking exaggerating. And he has a “slight” personality problem:

»Personality-wise, I’m a vulgar asshole at my worst, and miles away from Prince Charming at my best.«

This becomes especially grating when very nice ideas…

»A fantasy that takes a warped perception I had of her, one that hurt her and ate me up with guilt, and turns that pain into something that’ll give us both pleasure.«

… drastically clash with Caleb’s swearing and crudeness.

»She told me to dress for a date, so I settled for what was clean and might stand up to the cold outside. And I suppose I look like some giant lumberjack escorting a sexy fairy princess into this damn party, but I can’t bring myself to give a shit if we don’t match.«

And yet, this novel worked for me because the chemistry between Audrey and Caleb is simply great and he never feels threatened by Audrey’s self-confidence or outward powerfulness. As any decent partner should, Caleb supports Audrey, takes her needs and challenges seriously, and vice versa.

I would have loved to get to read a little more about Audrey as a successful business woman, about her assistants, Jessica and Jeremy, and some other side characters which are sadly neglected.

This is a very, very hot, spicy and steamy novel. I liked it but if you prefer a “fade-to-black” approach, this is very definitely not “your” novel… Also, versus the end, there’s more sex than anything else and I found myself wishing to read more about those two in non-sexual contexts.

Especially since there are quite a few open questions that aren’t addressed by the epilogue (“Five years later”) either: What becomes of the Wyndhams? What does Caleb do with his inheritance? What about Audrey’s parents?

Despite being seriously annoyed by Caleb at times, I didn’t like putting this one down.

Four out of five stars.

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Ceterum censeo Putin esse delendam

This is a short book, well-written though it drags in places. Anja volunteers to become the bride to Kael the Conqueror, intending to murder him and take over his kingdom. He surprises her when he rejects her.
It wasn't what I expected which is not the author's fault, but it wasn't for me.

sad that there is only this one

3-1/2 stars really. So anyway a pretty good MC romance. There wasn't much interaction with the motorcycle club which is what held it back from more stars I guess. If you're going to wrote MC books then the club dynamics should be a bigger element I guess. The romance was good, woman in peril and all. There wasn't actually that much conflict between the two characters and what there was was dealt with during one conversation. I did like the main character and enjoyed his father. The heroine was a bit of a nonentity.

Good world building. Nice relationship development. A little too sugary and sweet but overall a nice read.

I don't have a review for this book. Re: my cozy rating... I was torn about adding this to the list. It does have two scenes where the protagonists are in serious, icky danger, but both scenes are over quickly. There are also gory references to people the hero killed, but it is always clear those killed were Really Bad People. Otherwise, the story is mostly the two of them road-tripping and falling in love.

4.2 stars

This shifter romance was recommended to me and for that I am glad because this was exceptionally well written. It didn't come off as cheesy in any way. Strong characters, a plausible storyline, and packed full of mystery. Ill definitely be looking at more from this author as I really liked her writing style.

Definitely, the thing I needed after a very disappointing read.
Short and sweet but packs a nice story overall, I am so glad I found this one.

3.5 stars
This story was so much fun. Outrageous, but in a good way. Perhaps a bit more violent than I anticipated, but thankfully not overly descriptive. I am truly enjoying the stories in this dead lands world.½

3.5 stars½

A really good story, engaging and i was so interested in the characters.

A really good story, engaging and i was so interested in the characters.

This is a really good story.
It is Insta love, in that they both feel the attraction but it takes some time to get together. He has an injury so he is struggling physically and she is guarded due to her family history.
There is no other woman/man ex drama. They really get to know each other before getting together, he makes assumptions about her at first which doesn't help his case to win her around.
HEA.

A really good story.

A really good story, engaging and i was so interested in the characters

Great set of stories

This set is the first 3 books in the Hellfire MC series. It's an interesting box set with a great story line. I enjoyed having everything in one place so I could read them all easily.

Quick Christmas read

This is just a short read, a quick check in on Saxon and Jenny and how she's coping. We get to learn a little more about Sax and his history. Nice read.

Great story

Kati's Hellfire Riders are pretty awesome. I enjoy reading them all and finding out how all the different couples work and getting the small updates on prior couples.

Kati Wilde's Hellfire Riders club is pretty cool. All the guys are very awesome. The nice thing about her books is that the women in them are strong women who are out doing their things. They don't back down from anything, and when the guys try to put their foot down about something, the women have no problem standing up for themselves. Sara is no different. And she has no problem with taking care of her man when necessary.

I loved their story, and I love the epilogue. I think I want more Bull and Sara to read.

Kati Wilde has done it again. Her Hellfire Riders MC has once again managed to produce another hot biker who is undeniably alpha and who is incredibly protective of a woman.

Olivia is being paid to pretend to be a movie star whom she looks almost exactly like. The real star is being stalked by a Russian mobster. The star's husband leaves Olivia under the care of the Hellfire Riders in general, and Duke in particular.

Duke has a reason to not particularly like the movie star that Olivia is pretending to be. That's not going to stop him from doing his job as he should. However, his instincts are telling him that there is something odd about this job and about "Keri". He isn't willing to stop until he figures out what it is.

Great story. Lots of tension in it for so many reasons. Ivan is a massive prick and deserves so much terrible to happen to him. I really need at least one more in this series. The book says that Stone's story is coming soon, and I really wish it would.

My favorite couple

I've read this whole series before and Lily and Jack are my fave couple. Lily is just a BAMF and Jack sounds sexy AF.

Fab

I've been waiting for years for this book, and it finally came out and it was everything I needed. So happy to get Stone's story.

If I were rating the first 40% of this book, I would’ve guessed 4 stars easily. Unfortunately, it didn’t maintain its humor. And while I enjoyed the end, it got a bit wrung out with repetitive problems and mistakes. They were good, which is why my rating leans to a 4, but just not meaty enough. The sex felt fresh and dirty, so that is a definite plus.

Man, I do love a road tripping story though! If you like a quick read about a heroine with a good head on her shoulders and a manipulative, cold at times cruel hero (it weirdly works), it might be for you. (And a plot that’s just thinly veiled reason to throw them together.)

I gave this MC a 4 Star rating because it pissed me off so much! If a book can stir up my emotions so much that I want to throw it against the wall (I didn't cause I read it on my tablet and that would have been a horrible mistake that would have made me cry...), then that books deserves 4 stars.

First of all it has some of my very favorite story must haves... unrequited love...sort of Romeo and Juliette...the hero saves the day....and a HEA ending....Well damn.... not really! Which is why I wanted to throw the book!

The reason I usually don't like MC books is because they portray women has objects w/out any respect. So I don't read them. Sigh... this one is very well written because it just grabs you and it's over before you know it and the story isn't finished and you want to know so much more.

Sigh... I really loved it even though I hated it and now I am reading Taking It All and will probably be pissed off all over again.

Jenny has loved Saxon since he saved her from an ugly attack by a ravel MC. She was just 16 and at the fair and wondered into the other MC territory. (I didn't know that MC's had their very own territory at fairs and such but I am learning all kinds of things about MC's that I never knew before.) Anyway... She is being raped (she was raped even though the bad guy did not penetrate her except w/his fingers...gross and ugly..raped!) and Saxon kicks the monster in the head and said monster dies. Saxon is sent to prison for manslaughter, even though the pig deserved to die for hurting a 16 year old innocent girl! Jenny writes to him and tells him how sorry she is for him being sent away for saving her.

Present day...14 years have passed (way too long by way of thinking) and Jenny has graduated college and started her own business. But everything is not okay. She and Saxon look at each other w/longing but cannot be together because her father is the president of the Titans MC and Saxon is president of the Hellfire Riders. And they are rivals. Sigh...

Her father is dying and she is thinking that she has to leave the state and go to the other side of the country because the bad guys brother wants revenge on her for the brother's death. (Why he has waited 14 years? I don't know.) But she goes into Saxon's biker bar when the bad guys are following her, cause she is safe there...sort of...it's a MC thing.

Anyway....her father and Saxon come to an agreement to fold the two MC's together and to give Jenny to Saxon, cause he loves her. (Not that he says so...but you know he does). So she feels torn because she doesn't want to be traded by her father even if it's for her own safety but she love Saxon.

What really pissed me off? The father broke away from the HR's because the old president wrote into their bi-laws that the presidents wife has to fuck him, the president, in front of the entire club... and then all of the club. He did that to hurt Jenny's father cause her father was in love w/the old president's wife. So her father quits the club and starts his own cause that is just wrong.

Okay...why then is he handing his daughter over to that very club when he knows what is in their laws? He's okay with that happening to his daughter after she has already been horribly traumatized?

And Saxon the JERK doesn't tell her!

I was so pissed.... then... LOL twisted tale of hot MC love.... I loved it...