Customer Reviews

Soul Mates: Secrets

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Peter's and Lucien's relationship seems headed for extinction. They still love each other but the secrets between them are tearing them apart. Their issues are getting worse every day and everyone in the coven is waiting for the powder keg to explode.

Soul Mates: Secrets opens with Peter trying to cope with his new life as a half vampire half werewolf and all that it entails - the sex, the feedings, the pettiness among members of the coven, not to mention Lucien's extreme anger and jealousy over the close and complex relationship between him and Nikolas. In the midst of all this infighting the target on Peter's back keeps getting larger as his life is threatened by a very powerful but unknown enemy who knows his every move and choreographs his murders to implicate Peter.

Angels, demons, vamps, werewolves, incubi and other species really come out to play in this, the newest Soul Mates book. Jourdan Lane kicks butt in this series. There is nothing that she does not explore sexually between the main protagonists and when you think you're beyond shocked she lets you have it right between the eyes again with both barrels. Monogamy does not exist in her world of vampires, werewolves and incubi and for a very good reason, they are not human and therefore human norms and practices do not apply.

The plot is even more complex than the previous books and secrets abound. Some answers will be revealed, but there will be so many more new doors that the author opens you are left to wonder at the breath and scope of her imagination. This book introduces new characters - Tanner, a police detective who is also a werewolf, Zephyr an angel with an edge, and Peter's secret enemy who might be a lot closer than he thinks. As usual, the sex is through the roof and I'm sure Lucien's coven must go through more sheets than a brothel, but what I loved most is the emergence of Nikolas into his own and the very complex relationship between his wolf and Peter's.

At the end of this book there's a hint of who's behind the attacks on Peter and inciting a turf war, but no one will know who it is until Book 5, Soul Mates: Ascension, which promises to have even more action than the series so far. The body count, blood and guts are in the stratosphere but there was a moment when everything stood still and Peter's and Nikolas' wolves really moved me - the air between them was so alive and palpable - and at last their secret is revealed.

A number of pieces fall into place and fans of the series will have answers to most questions raised in the previous books but Jourdan Lane would not be the master storyteller that she is without introducing even more complex issues for the next book. The end of Secrets will amaze you - do not miss it.

Soul Mates: Secrets is a continuation of the saga of Lucien and Peter, vampire lovers and Masters of their coven. Lucien is the centuries-old vampire and Master of the coven, Peter is is recently-made-vampire lover and the only person Lucien is willing to treat fully as an equal rather than a servant or coven member. But once again, they're having marital problems and their relationship seems to be in serious jeopardy. Lucien and Peter are both holding back information from each other, and each one's pride and short temper help keep them apart. To make matters worse, the relationships become more complicated.

Lucien is in love with Peter. Peter is in love with Lucien. But Peter is also part werewolf, and his wolf half recognizes the werewolf Nikolas as his mate. Nikolas sees Peter as his wolf mate, but is in love with Sabaan, a demon of lust who loves not only Nikolas, but also has a nice crush on Lucien, who returns the crush, but also has strong romantic feelings for Nikolas.

Are you still with me?

And to make this even MORE complex, there are a series of murders committed by unknown vampires and werewolves, and it looks like the perpetrators are framing Peter.

The dialog is crisp and well-written, the book flows at a brisk pace, and the already highly-erotic encounters the author is known for in her previous works is even more charged and dynamic here, with encounters between shifting werewolves, demons, vampires, and everything in between.

The book ends on a cliffhanger, unlike the other novels which find a natural breaking point for the story and leave you with a sense of conclusion of the main plot points. With Secrets, while relationships are fixed and characters grow, the main plot of the rogue vampires and werewolves turns out to be a setup for the next book in the series. Also, while the characters have all reached harmony in their relationships by the end of each story, the next installment in the series has them at disarray again. While harmony is achieved this time, will it be permanent? History says "no", and I can only hope that the trend of "fight at the beginning of the story, make up and be in love by the end" doesn't become too repetitive.

Still, it's a highly-charged, well-written work with complex and highly nuanced characters, a rich and detailed genre, and intriguing plot. It's one of the more addicting series I've read and highly recommended.

Wait a damn minute, this cannot possibly be the last book in this series. NOTHING WAS SOLVED. Ok, Im sorry, I am a huge fan of M/M Romance novels, just read my other reviews, I always speak about the positive of these books, but this one... I dont know, I feel like I got slapped across my face by some random person in the street and they just walked away like nothing happened. Usually I start with the positive, but in this case NO MORE MR.NICE GUY.

Peter's father or brother killed his grandparents? Ok, but wait, Cyril fk'd around with Caleb's head and thus they buried Lucien alive. But wait there is more, Who sliced up Caleb in book one? Oh wait actually I think they did solve that one. How about this, What is going on with Simon's wings? From book two on, this was nothing but a bunch of stuff happening and thats it. "Oh crap the club is on fire, we will solve that later lets go bang it out in bed." "Peter your grandparents are dead." "Oh wow, come here let me blow you." "I want Simon to get his wings back" "Ok, see ya tomorrow." 3week later "Wow, you were an animal in bed." Im all for hot sex, dont get me wrong, aint nothing wrong with some good lov'N. But for crying outloud could we solve some issues while driving our hands down each other's pants?

Whats up with the gang living in Sabaan's place, arent we gonna go and kick them the hell out?

I have to admit, and really I hate to admit it, but this series was just NOT the bizness. Im hoping she keeps going and wraps all this up, but she dug a big hole for herself, because (in the words of Ricky Ricardo) she gotta lota splaining to do.

Ok, now the positive. The whole world of Vampire and Werewolf and Demon lovers is just awsome. No matter how crappy the story is, it is still an exciting world. Not to mention the comfort and the security even though danger is everywhere, Peter has Lucien, Xander, Nikolas and Sabaan. He's got Simon the chef from heaven, Silver the hetero-gaurd and an army of Vampires and Lycans, the latter which he is now the leader of. That is just awsome. (and another unresolved issue).

It is very cleaver how Lane made both Lucien and Nikolas Peter's mates. That worked really well, it really validated the three-way, four-way...um whatever relationship(s). Ok, so I wasnt really feeling this series and so because I gave all the others good marks, 5 and 4 stars, I am going to give this 1 star because I cannot give this book the praise that I gave Laura Baumbach and JL Langley. This book just did not hit that mark. So while again I loved what was going on, nothing got solved and the characters just were not as engaging and loveable as others that I have experienced.

This series combines two of my favorite things; great sci-fi stores and hot steamy man sex. Woof!

First off, let me say that this was one of the most frustrating series I've ever read. It had its good points, which is why I kept reading, but the travesty in this story is the author not really knowing what to do with the good aspects of her series. I'm going to go into Peter in detail, because he's the one telling the story.

Peter, the protagonist didn't grow much in the span on 4 books and 2-3 years. He's still the whiny, selfish, megalomaniac, hypocritical, self-righteous, arrogant spoil brat he was in book 1 by the end of book 4. As he tells the story, it would seem that everyone was against him. So many are jealous of him for one reason or another. He's always the victim and doesn't really self-reflect on why. When someone is on Peter's S-list, then they're the ones who are the jerks and of course there's nothing he did to them to make them mad at him, Right.

It always seemed so sudden too, as if the author wanted to create a conflict/drama, she'd turn people who were cool with Peter one minute, the next minute, they'd show what Peter would describe as "disrespect" toward him. To me, it was as if the author simply wanted Peter to be able to lord over someone, so she'd make up scenarios in order to create that dynamic. Mind you, Peter doesn't like criticism, he can't take it. If someone starts to point out where he's wrong, he cuts them off. Although he has no problem pointing out what he deems are other people's problems. I would have a hard time respecting a "leader" who can't self-reflect and look at his/her own short-comings to see where they can improve. Peter also doesn't respect his coven/pack. He doesn't respect the job they do. He ditches his security detail (which was an idea he approved of) thus making their jobs harder and putting them in danger. What if he were to get attacked and taken? How would Lucien respond to them losing him? Peter doesn't want to be addressed on the matter, and gets all huffy about it. I don't see how anyone in the coven could respect him.

The author tried her best to get me to see the world the way Peter sees it, but I can see right through Peter and the other characters. I found it predictable and sad that Peter never listens to anyone's advice. He's always doing the opposite of whatever is suggested. They told him to stay in where it's safe until they figure out what's going on with the doppelganger killing in their territory, and Peter refuses and says he's going to hunt because he's tried of eating the same people. I mean, that was some insulting stuff to say to people who's been feeding him. Now, any other time, he can't get enough of their blood, but now he's told to feed from Sabaan/Nikolas, and now their blood isn't good enough. So childish. But of course, there's always a 2/3 third ratio of people who are going to agree with Peter simply so that Peter can be the one who's always right, even when he's wrong.

After all that, nothing was solved. It was as if the author just got tired of writing the story. What about Simon's wings? Did he ever get his hearing? Was he judged worthy or did they turn him into a mortal man as further punishment? (also, Simon told Peter not to interfere, but nobody tells peter what to do! So the deal was Simon was supposed to be judged) And Peter never even told Simon that the angels were going to review his case about his getting his wings back. I guess peter was too busy having sex to think about the important stuff. They all were, it would seem. You never get to see them talking to all of the hunters they captured. There's no interrogation scenes at all. It's suspected that Peter's father is the one doing the killing, but their not sure if it's his father or brother. Peter claims it's impossible for it to be his father because the man is young, which was stupid to me, because if his "father" hasn't been in his life at all and is a vampire/werewolf, then it's very possible that he was turned into a vampire when he was young and that's why he was never in his life. Also, Xander saw this person before, but he thought it was Peter. Peter tells him it was easy for him to be confused because their bond had been broken. Still, I must ask... Xander is a werewolf, what about his sense of smell? How come he couldn't smell the man wasn't Peter?

Moving on. The Council doesn't have answers, Lucien who seems stronger now. He's awake in the day and eating human food and can burn things with his mind, is apparently too week to take care of the master vampire and his coven and Pack who are now squatting in Sabaan's crib. (which I found hysterical). The book ends with yet ANOTHER sex scene and Peter letting us know that the invading coven and pack are killing people and rubbing their faces in their kills, but what they don't know is that his own coven is staying put and getting stronger building their forces up so one day, one day they will seek them out and beat them down.

Question: If Lucien can burn people with his mind, and can be awake during the day and can probably go out in the sun, (thought it was never tested... you'd think that'd be the first thing a vampire would do.) wouldn't that give him the advantage? Also, Sabaan's crib was nice, but it wasn't that huge. I seriously doubt there's a 1000 vampires and werewolves living there. Lucien had over 2 hundred at his command... just how many dang on members does he need before he feels comfortable to declare war on the coven pissing on his territory?

I just wish the Jourdan Lane would have just stuck with as little plot as possible instead of trying to make a serious plot out of this series. She just didn't have the skill to pull it off in my opinion. If you like reading the same sex scenes with the same characters over and over, with little variation, then yeah, I guess this is a five star book for you. If you prefer solid world building with great sex scenes, then you'll be disappointed. I liked Nikolas and Sabaan. But Lucien kind of got boring after book 1.

*Edit* Oh, I forgot to mention, apparently Sebaan is a werekitty. What kind, I don't know, but he shifts into a cat. That really came out of nowhere in the story and was never elaborated on. You can't help but wonder why none of the vampires or werewolves knew before hand?

Jourdan Lane has once again put me in a stranglehold and I can't get enough! What I like most about Secrets is the fact that Ethan and Noah are reintroduce where they were left off. A couple of werewolves that are unknown unless you read JL's piece in the book 'The Call'. Read it, you wont be disappointed ;]

Anyways back on topic, I can't recall the last saga that's kept me interested like this in a long time like Soul Mates!