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Crystal Warrior #1
The Crystal Warrior
A career-focused dancer who's sworn off men...
A cursed crystal warrior on borrowed time....
Chalcedony (Chalcey) is too busy planning the launch of her dance studio to fret about the absence of men in her life. Besides, she's hanging out for the man of her dreams-if such a creature exists. Her ordered world is turned on its head when she's given a wulfenite crystal, and Lord Wulfenite, Keeper of the Shifting Sands fief, emerges... and kisses her like there's no tomorrow.
Before they comprehend what's truly at stake, Chalcey has bonded with Wulf and his life is in her hands. And with the Crystal Guardian's final test looming, Chalcey must confront her feelings for Wulf... and find a way to save him before it's too late.
Winner of the Romance Writers of New Zealand Clendon Award
A cursed crystal warrior on borrowed time....
Chalcedony (Chalcey) is too busy planning the launch of her dance studio to fret about the absence of men in her life. Besides, she's hanging out for the man of her dreams-if such a creature exists. Her ordered world is turned on its head when she's given a wulfenite crystal, and Lord Wulfenite, Keeper of the Shifting Sands fief, emerges... and kisses her like there's no tomorrow.
Before they comprehend what's truly at stake, Chalcey has bonded with Wulf and his life is in her hands. And with the Crystal Guardian's final test looming, Chalcey must confront her feelings for Wulf... and find a way to save him before it's too late.
Winner of the Romance Writers of New Zealand Clendon Award
320 pages, ebook
First published August 8, 2011
30 people are currently reading
538 people want to read
About the author
Maree Anderson
26 books80 followersMaree Anderson writes paranormal romance, fantasy, and young adult books. She lives in beautiful New Zealand, home of hobbits, elves, and kiwis—both the fruit and the two-legged flightless variety. Her first novel for young adults, the multi-award-winning Freaks of Greenfield High, was optioned for TV, and currently has over 2 million reads on Wattpad. Alas, Freaks didn’t make it to the small screen, but it sure was a fun ride while it lasted. Readers will be pleased to know she is definitely planning to write more books in her popular Crystal Warriors and Freaks series.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
March 9, 2016
DNF at 27 percent/Chapter 6.
Yeah I had to quit after the heroine had unprotected sex with the guy who showed up uninvited to her home, who refused to leave, and pretty much threw her around like she was a piece of meat the preceding evening. I mean she was on the pill, so it's totes okay (I seriously rolled my eyes so hard at that part I ended up having a twitch for a bit yesterday afternoon).
Sigh. Double Sigh.
I don't even know where to begin. We start off with a bunch of warriors called Styrians in some time and place unknown. I am going to hazard a guess it's several thousand years before the present day set-up that we get to in the book.
The head of this group is called Wulfenite. He and his merry crew of jerks are imprisoned in crystals that bear their names (apparently coincidence is the watchword for this book) and will only be released by true love.
I mean these guys don't sound nice, sound pretty horrible, and were running around stealing women and letting other women (who were too old) and men just die after they got down raiding a town. Why int he world would you pretty much say hey there, I know you are pretty terrible, but all forgiven once you find true love.
Hocus pocus, warriors imprisoned.
Now we go to modern times with a dancer named Chalcedony (stupid, stupid, stupid name) is trying to get a loan in order to do something. I don't even recall at this point. The book was so fragmented I couldn't freaking follow one thing. She purchases a crystal that Wulfenite is in and somehow finds herself gaining consciousness hours (maybe) later talking to the bank manager.
I really can't say much about Chalcey (worse, so much worse than her full name) because I don't know much about her or her life, or anything else besides how large her breasts are. I know that because so many people keep remarking upon it, she even mentions it. And I can honestly say, she's not smart. She leaves a club solo after letting some creep she doesn't know paw all over her. That whole scene was so maddening to me. You say stop, why in the world would you keep dancing with the ass? To make matters worse, she leaves the club and curses about the fact that she let her friend force her into a dress that makes her look "slutty." Getting into a verbal altercation with her dance partner who can't take a hint, she gets "saved" by Wulfenite who somehow after being released found some hot leather clothes. And apparently can speak English and understand what people are saying when they are referring to certain things. Oh and somehow he found a knife. I just...I can't.
The other "characters" are just in this it seems to move the plot along. Chalcey's supposed best friend Sam is a moron. You find a random dude in your friend's bed and you decide it's okay to take a peek at him while he's sleeping naked? Are you freaking serious?
And Wulfenite (I hate typing that name) is a sexist asshole. Seriously. The comments he makes to Chalcey or to Sam about how back in the day he would just have taken his pleasure from the woman in question and went about his business? Whatever.
The writing is not great. The dialogue is laughably bad. And the pacing is all over the place. Within a few hours of meeting a random dude we have the heroine having unprotected sex and not caring if the workers and her friend can hear them and her yelling herself into an orgasm.
Yeah I had to quit after the heroine had unprotected sex with the guy who showed up uninvited to her home, who refused to leave, and pretty much threw her around like she was a piece of meat the preceding evening. I mean she was on the pill, so it's totes okay (I seriously rolled my eyes so hard at that part I ended up having a twitch for a bit yesterday afternoon).
Sigh. Double Sigh.
I don't even know where to begin. We start off with a bunch of warriors called Styrians in some time and place unknown. I am going to hazard a guess it's several thousand years before the present day set-up that we get to in the book.
The head of this group is called Wulfenite. He and his merry crew of jerks are imprisoned in crystals that bear their names (apparently coincidence is the watchword for this book) and will only be released by true love.
I mean these guys don't sound nice, sound pretty horrible, and were running around stealing women and letting other women (who were too old) and men just die after they got down raiding a town. Why int he world would you pretty much say hey there, I know you are pretty terrible, but all forgiven once you find true love.
Hocus pocus, warriors imprisoned.
Now we go to modern times with a dancer named Chalcedony (stupid, stupid, stupid name) is trying to get a loan in order to do something. I don't even recall at this point. The book was so fragmented I couldn't freaking follow one thing. She purchases a crystal that Wulfenite is in and somehow finds herself gaining consciousness hours (maybe) later talking to the bank manager.
I really can't say much about Chalcey (worse, so much worse than her full name) because I don't know much about her or her life, or anything else besides how large her breasts are. I know that because so many people keep remarking upon it, she even mentions it. And I can honestly say, she's not smart. She leaves a club solo after letting some creep she doesn't know paw all over her. That whole scene was so maddening to me. You say stop, why in the world would you keep dancing with the ass? To make matters worse, she leaves the club and curses about the fact that she let her friend force her into a dress that makes her look "slutty." Getting into a verbal altercation with her dance partner who can't take a hint, she gets "saved" by Wulfenite who somehow after being released found some hot leather clothes. And apparently can speak English and understand what people are saying when they are referring to certain things. Oh and somehow he found a knife. I just...I can't.
The other "characters" are just in this it seems to move the plot along. Chalcey's supposed best friend Sam is a moron. You find a random dude in your friend's bed and you decide it's okay to take a peek at him while he's sleeping naked? Are you freaking serious?
And Wulfenite (I hate typing that name) is a sexist asshole. Seriously. The comments he makes to Chalcey or to Sam about how back in the day he would just have taken his pleasure from the woman in question and went about his business? Whatever.
The writing is not great. The dialogue is laughably bad. And the pacing is all over the place. Within a few hours of meeting a random dude we have the heroine having unprotected sex and not caring if the workers and her friend can hear them and her yelling herself into an orgasm.
March 28, 2013
The concept of The Crystal Warrior caught my interest, but from the beginning it was choppy, jumping chunks of events including scenes that would have been very important from Chalcedony's perspective - it's her dream on the line, after all. Then there's the fact that she makes no choices for herself, not in all of what I read (I couldn't get past the first few chapters). She's brought into the "crystal store" against her will, forced to choose a crystal against her will, it's in her possession whether she wants it or not, her friend pressures her to go clubbing in a dress she doesn't want to wear - while she has work to finish in her dream studio and a deadline to meet - her friend foists a grabby jerk on her, (ok, she makes one choice: to leave the club early), then she has this random hulk who physically can't leave her alone because he's in pain if he's not with her. That's not love, that's not "destiny," that's being crammed down each others' throats.
The best moment in the entirety of what I read was when she decked Wulf because he was acting like the other jerk she'd just gotten rid of. But while one "hot" guy inspires disgust, the other "hot" guy inspires "oh-my-gosh-sleep-with-me-now." Ew. There's no character development, there's no active attempt at forging a relationship. No. It's "Here's your man! Ta-da! You have no choice in the matter."
The writing itself is ok, but the execution pushed too many buttons for me. I drew the line and deleted the book when they suddenly started fainting at the sound of each others' full names. I'm sure there's a point to it later in the book, but all things considered, I had to roll my eyes and quit. The author's future books in the series might be better, but I'm not interested enough to find out.
The best moment in the entirety of what I read was when she decked Wulf because he was acting like the other jerk she'd just gotten rid of. But while one "hot" guy inspires disgust, the other "hot" guy inspires "oh-my-gosh-sleep-with-me-now." Ew. There's no character development, there's no active attempt at forging a relationship. No. It's "Here's your man! Ta-da! You have no choice in the matter."
The writing itself is ok, but the execution pushed too many buttons for me. I drew the line and deleted the book when they suddenly started fainting at the sound of each others' full names. I'm sure there's a point to it later in the book, but all things considered, I had to roll my eyes and quit. The author's future books in the series might be better, but I'm not interested enough to find out.
June 2, 2021
1st reread: 16/4/17
2nd reread: 2/6/21
Original rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Revised rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️
2nd reread: 2/6/21
Original rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Revised rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️
September 18, 2016
*read on wattpad*
August 17, 2013
3.5 This was a fun story to read. I say fun because there many times that made me laugh. I'm not even sure if it was suppose to be funny but it was to me. I really liked that Wulf was from another world and another time. It made me feel better when it was explained why and what happened to the women who were taken and auctioned off. I mean Wulf was such a likeable character, and to think that he was a leader and helped his men kidnap women and children for breeding was horrible. But there was more to the story than what I had thought.
October 18, 2011
I thoroughly enjoyed The Crystal Warrior. No surprises that it won the RWNZ Clendon Award - everything about it was beautifully crafted. Characters felt real - even ancient warrior Wulf - and I loved the interaction between modern day independent heroine, Chalcey, and her hero. There was humour, angst, passion, the works! I am looking forward to the next book in Maree Anderson's crystal warrior series.
August 27, 2014
I really hated this book. I couldn't respect the heroine, therefore I couldn't connect with her. She was a spineless wimp in almost every aspect of her life. Wulf was a jerk, and while that was ok in his time, I couldn't see him willing to change to meet the times he was in. And yet, he was practically the same as the guy Chaceldony threw over, she couldn't see it? Improbable, in my eyes. I'll be deleting it off my Kindle and thank goodness I didn't purchase the others!
December 5, 2011
The sexy alpha male hero had me hooked from the beginning and I loved the sassy heroine who tamed him (just enough). The plot unfolded at a fast page-turner pace. Finding The Crystal Warrior was like finding a Paranormal Romance Gem. I can't wait for the next book in the series.
November 21, 2012
A sexy read with great characters, loved both the hero and heroine.
January 7, 2024
This was a good entertaining read. Great characters and interesting storyline.
September 4, 2024
The premise is interesting, but the execution is bad. Pretty much everything is narrated, and I don’t particularly enjoy that style. I also didn’t like any of the characters.
DNF 30%
DNF 30%
January 9, 2013
I picked up this book because I thought the blurb sounded interesting and at the time it was free so I was willing to take a chance. I am so glad I did because I've now found a new series to enjoy.
The world building of this story was very creative and refreshing when compared to the majority of romances with fantasy romance blended with the contemporary that are available out there. It is the story of Wulf, a mighty brutish warrior of the past, from a parallel world who follows the dictates of his elders and their people's needs to conquer others and take their women. He is punished for these sins in the form of a curse that imprisons him and several of his warriors inside crystals that bear their names until they are matched up and redeemed by their true love. It is also the story of Chalsey, a strong and independent woman of the modern world who is trying to fulfill a dream by starting her own dance studio all on her own though she does have a very supportive friend who stands by her constantly encouraging her to enjoy life and not take it so seriously.
The day that Chalsey gets turned down for her latest request for a business loan ends up being a turning point. She enters a crystal shop only to have an odd experience with one of the crystals on display and the odd little owner gifts it to her. But then her day just goes further downhill when her best friend sets her up with a loser and the said loser hurts her before she is rescued by a hottie warrior-like man from her dreams who insists that he must be with her. Too bad Chalsey is almost too stubborn and insecure for her own good forcing Wulf to pull out all the stops (including help from Chalsey's bestfriend Sam) to bring her around.
The mystery of the crystal and the crystal warriors is finally divulged by an unlikely source and instead of things growing simpler the situation for Wulf and Chalsey is amped up ten fold.
The plot for this one was complex and took a long time to build. Much of the first half of the book I spent impatient with the pace and what felt like a bogging down from all the sub-plot going on hoping it would get on with it. There was the establishment of the characters, the introduction of Wulf's past story thread along with the present story thread, the subplots involving the dance studio, Chalsey's life and the lives of her friends and the creepy exs which weren't bad, but all I really wanted was to get down to the point of the Crystal Warriors and what that all meant. Fortunately, my patience paid off in the end. The story zeroed in on the main plot and got pretty intense with Chalsey and Wulf faced with some big choices and danger lurking for them.
The main plot for me was the romance between Wulf and Chalsey. I was on the fence about how it was being handled at first. I'm all for spunky heroines and I do see the sense in not just getting it on with a perfect stranger who is being insistent. I would have kicked him out too. The part I didn't like was lying to her best friend and denying her attraction for Wulf and then getting an attitude when her best friend takes her words at face value. I just couldn't figure out her insecurities. She would flip back and forth between thinking that she'd never find a guy who saw past her appearance and she wanted to be desired for herself to doubting that Wulf or anyone else could see her as beautiful. Sorry honey, you can't have it both ways! But eventually, things got to the point where Chalsey allowed Wulf into her life so I guess I'll allow that she grew a great deal in the story and that Wulf was really good for her. He rescued her from an imprisonment of her own making as much as she rescued him from his crystal.
The characters were great. Chalsey is a blend of lots of things and as I said had a lot of growing to do. Wulf, even though he is the old time warlord with antiquated ideas about women, seems to adjust easier than Chalsey. He accepts the changes of a modern world even while retaining quite a bit of his warrior spirit and alpha male-ness. I loved Jai, Sam and Ezmeralda as the sidekicks they were almost scene stealers every time. Chalsey's mother garnished little sympathy for me even when she came clean. She was a cold-blooded gal who made a decision that made me cringe when I read it and I hated her for actively trying to force her decision on Chalsey when their situations were very different (not that I don't still condemn her for her own decision no matter the circumstances).
Whew! Guess I had a lot to say, but the general idea is that it was a good story that I recommend to those who enjoy contemporary romances involving a magical or fantasy element to them.
The world building of this story was very creative and refreshing when compared to the majority of romances with fantasy romance blended with the contemporary that are available out there. It is the story of Wulf, a mighty brutish warrior of the past, from a parallel world who follows the dictates of his elders and their people's needs to conquer others and take their women. He is punished for these sins in the form of a curse that imprisons him and several of his warriors inside crystals that bear their names until they are matched up and redeemed by their true love. It is also the story of Chalsey, a strong and independent woman of the modern world who is trying to fulfill a dream by starting her own dance studio all on her own though she does have a very supportive friend who stands by her constantly encouraging her to enjoy life and not take it so seriously.
The day that Chalsey gets turned down for her latest request for a business loan ends up being a turning point. She enters a crystal shop only to have an odd experience with one of the crystals on display and the odd little owner gifts it to her. But then her day just goes further downhill when her best friend sets her up with a loser and the said loser hurts her before she is rescued by a hottie warrior-like man from her dreams who insists that he must be with her. Too bad Chalsey is almost too stubborn and insecure for her own good forcing Wulf to pull out all the stops (including help from Chalsey's bestfriend Sam) to bring her around.
The mystery of the crystal and the crystal warriors is finally divulged by an unlikely source and instead of things growing simpler the situation for Wulf and Chalsey is amped up ten fold.
The plot for this one was complex and took a long time to build. Much of the first half of the book I spent impatient with the pace and what felt like a bogging down from all the sub-plot going on hoping it would get on with it. There was the establishment of the characters, the introduction of Wulf's past story thread along with the present story thread, the subplots involving the dance studio, Chalsey's life and the lives of her friends and the creepy exs which weren't bad, but all I really wanted was to get down to the point of the Crystal Warriors and what that all meant. Fortunately, my patience paid off in the end. The story zeroed in on the main plot and got pretty intense with Chalsey and Wulf faced with some big choices and danger lurking for them.
The main plot for me was the romance between Wulf and Chalsey. I was on the fence about how it was being handled at first. I'm all for spunky heroines and I do see the sense in not just getting it on with a perfect stranger who is being insistent. I would have kicked him out too. The part I didn't like was lying to her best friend and denying her attraction for Wulf and then getting an attitude when her best friend takes her words at face value. I just couldn't figure out her insecurities. She would flip back and forth between thinking that she'd never find a guy who saw past her appearance and she wanted to be desired for herself to doubting that Wulf or anyone else could see her as beautiful. Sorry honey, you can't have it both ways! But eventually, things got to the point where Chalsey allowed Wulf into her life so I guess I'll allow that she grew a great deal in the story and that Wulf was really good for her. He rescued her from an imprisonment of her own making as much as she rescued him from his crystal.
The characters were great. Chalsey is a blend of lots of things and as I said had a lot of growing to do. Wulf, even though he is the old time warlord with antiquated ideas about women, seems to adjust easier than Chalsey. He accepts the changes of a modern world even while retaining quite a bit of his warrior spirit and alpha male-ness. I loved Jai, Sam and Ezmeralda as the sidekicks they were almost scene stealers every time. Chalsey's mother garnished little sympathy for me even when she came clean. She was a cold-blooded gal who made a decision that made me cringe when I read it and I hated her for actively trying to force her decision on Chalsey when their situations were very different (not that I don't still condemn her for her own decision no matter the circumstances).
Whew! Guess I had a lot to say, but the general idea is that it was a good story that I recommend to those who enjoy contemporary romances involving a magical or fantasy element to them.
April 25, 2012
I had decided that I wasn't going to review any more romance novels since I get very few readers of those posts. When I finished reading the paranormal romance The Crystal Warrior by New Zealand author Maree Anderson I felt so refreshed that I had to change my plan. After all, this my blog and I get to write what I want, when I want, and you can choose whether to read or not.
Why did this book change my mind. I read a lot of books in a wide variety of genres. My Friday evening is for free reading, works that I don't feel compelled to review; most of them are romances. This week I started reading The Crystal Warrior. I had read about fifteen pages, but it wasn't really working for me. I called it a night. The next day I felt that I had dismissed the book without giving it a fair chance. As Maree is a Kiwi author and I really have a thing for New Zealand (we'll be travelling there in less than three months, for our third trip), I picked it up the next day and continued reading. It wasn't very many pages before I was submerged in the lives of Chalcedony, Wulfenite and Pietersite.
Don't those sound like rock/crystal names. Exactly, main characters with the name of crystals. Chalcedony, known as Chalcey to her friends, wants nothing more than to open her dance studio. On her way to a meeting with a potential backer, she is sidetracked into an odd little shop that she had not noticed before. Pieter, the shopkeeper, asks her to select a crystal from a display. She feels attracted to one particular stone. This stone is Wulfenite.
Wulfenite, or rather Wulf, was the leader of a band of warriors that was intent on abducting all the suitable women from the village where Pieter lives. With no one from the village willing to take a stand against these warriors, Pieter determines he has to take a stand. Using the most powerful magic he has at his command, he traps the eleven warriors in their namesake crystals and locks them inside until they are released by their true love. Enter Chalcey into Wulf's story.
I found this story refreshing. Chalcey wasn't looking for love, she was intent on her business. She was an accomplished dancer with a dedicated staff and willing clientele. All she was missing was sufficient financing. I've read quite a few time travel type romances, and it is always interesting to see how the out-of-time person integrates into the new time. Wulf handled this well. He approached it as a warrior would a battle, just a different type of battle. It was interesting to watch. I am not a dancer, but I did enjoy the descriptions of the studio and the demonstration dances that Chalcey did with her dance partner. Almost made me want to sign up for a dance class.
There are currently three books in the Crystal Warrior series.
Why did this book change my mind. I read a lot of books in a wide variety of genres. My Friday evening is for free reading, works that I don't feel compelled to review; most of them are romances. This week I started reading The Crystal Warrior. I had read about fifteen pages, but it wasn't really working for me. I called it a night. The next day I felt that I had dismissed the book without giving it a fair chance. As Maree is a Kiwi author and I really have a thing for New Zealand (we'll be travelling there in less than three months, for our third trip), I picked it up the next day and continued reading. It wasn't very many pages before I was submerged in the lives of Chalcedony, Wulfenite and Pietersite.
Don't those sound like rock/crystal names. Exactly, main characters with the name of crystals. Chalcedony, known as Chalcey to her friends, wants nothing more than to open her dance studio. On her way to a meeting with a potential backer, she is sidetracked into an odd little shop that she had not noticed before. Pieter, the shopkeeper, asks her to select a crystal from a display. She feels attracted to one particular stone. This stone is Wulfenite.
Wulfenite, or rather Wulf, was the leader of a band of warriors that was intent on abducting all the suitable women from the village where Pieter lives. With no one from the village willing to take a stand against these warriors, Pieter determines he has to take a stand. Using the most powerful magic he has at his command, he traps the eleven warriors in their namesake crystals and locks them inside until they are released by their true love. Enter Chalcey into Wulf's story.
I found this story refreshing. Chalcey wasn't looking for love, she was intent on her business. She was an accomplished dancer with a dedicated staff and willing clientele. All she was missing was sufficient financing. I've read quite a few time travel type romances, and it is always interesting to see how the out-of-time person integrates into the new time. Wulf handled this well. He approached it as a warrior would a battle, just a different type of battle. It was interesting to watch. I am not a dancer, but I did enjoy the descriptions of the studio and the demonstration dances that Chalcey did with her dance partner. Almost made me want to sign up for a dance class.
There are currently three books in the Crystal Warrior series.
March 10, 2023
This review was originally posted on my Alaskan Bookie Website at:
http://alaskanbookie.com/review/the-c...
This was a very interesting story that began with a band of men raiding a village for women to be used as breeding stock and a magical man determined to stop them. He casts a spell on the warriors so they would be locked into crystals that bore the names of each of the warriors. Once locked inside, they spent hundreds of years locked in their crystals without hope of redemption until they fine true love. But how does one find true love while locked in a crystal?
Zip to the future and we find a girl named Chalcedony. She hates the name and so she has her friends call her Chalcey. She is a woman on a mission to open her own dance studio, but the bankers aren’t cooperating. On her way to her last ditch attempt to lure the bankers to her side, she stumbles across a crystal shop and is drawn to a stone called Wulfenite. Little does she know that the warrior named Wulfenite is inside the stone just waiting to be released.
Wulfentie, or Wulf as he likes to be called, is released from his crystal when Chalcey is attacked in an alleyway. He totally goes he-man on her and claims she is his and starts kissing her. Chalcey is having none of that (well almost none, there was a second or two when she lost her mind during the kiss.)
Once Wulf and Chalcey figure out whats going on they find they have 28 days to fall in love or he goes back into his crystal. Chalcey is not for falling in love but figures she can fake it well enough to get him off the hook. At least she hopes so.
It was kind of fun to put an old warrior into a today type setting and watch as he tries to adjust to his new world. I think he did pretty good, but there were still things he did that made me laugh. This story has some adult content, but it pretty mild so it falls firmly into the paranormal romance category instead of the erotica category.
This was a great start to a series and happily (thank you Ms. Anderson) it did not end with a cliff-hanger. I will be going on to the next in the series.
Note: This book is currently Free at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
http://alaskanbookie.com/review/the-c...
This was a very interesting story that began with a band of men raiding a village for women to be used as breeding stock and a magical man determined to stop them. He casts a spell on the warriors so they would be locked into crystals that bore the names of each of the warriors. Once locked inside, they spent hundreds of years locked in their crystals without hope of redemption until they fine true love. But how does one find true love while locked in a crystal?
Zip to the future and we find a girl named Chalcedony. She hates the name and so she has her friends call her Chalcey. She is a woman on a mission to open her own dance studio, but the bankers aren’t cooperating. On her way to her last ditch attempt to lure the bankers to her side, she stumbles across a crystal shop and is drawn to a stone called Wulfenite. Little does she know that the warrior named Wulfenite is inside the stone just waiting to be released.
Wulfentie, or Wulf as he likes to be called, is released from his crystal when Chalcey is attacked in an alleyway. He totally goes he-man on her and claims she is his and starts kissing her. Chalcey is having none of that (well almost none, there was a second or two when she lost her mind during the kiss.)
Once Wulf and Chalcey figure out whats going on they find they have 28 days to fall in love or he goes back into his crystal. Chalcey is not for falling in love but figures she can fake it well enough to get him off the hook. At least she hopes so.
It was kind of fun to put an old warrior into a today type setting and watch as he tries to adjust to his new world. I think he did pretty good, but there were still things he did that made me laugh. This story has some adult content, but it pretty mild so it falls firmly into the paranormal romance category instead of the erotica category.
This was a great start to a series and happily (thank you Ms. Anderson) it did not end with a cliff-hanger. I will be going on to the next in the series.
Note: This book is currently Free at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
July 12, 2016
Book Review- The Crystal Warrior by Maree Anderson
Pieter trapped the dreaded warriors into the crystals until their true loves are found. Wulf waits in his prison.
Chalcey Laureano needs a loan to get her dance studio off the ground. She is nervous so she is early to her meeting. There is a shop next door that catches her eye and she decides to kill some time. The old man who owns the shop shows her a set of crystals. He holds her hand over them and tells her to pick one. After that she seems to lose time. The next thing she remembers is sitting in the café concluding her meeting.
Then later that night she goes clubbing with her friend Sam. She meets Ray who turns out to be a slime ball. She leaves early. Ray catches up with her and won’t leave her alone. A mysterious man appears and helps her out after giving her the best kiss ever.
Wulf is drawn to Chalcey and needs her. He is fearful that he will be drawn back into the crystal. Chalcey is his only hope to be free but neither realize what is really going on. Chalcey is afraid to open her heart. Things get dangerous when she finds she has a stalker and she is running out of time.
This book had a unique storyline. I haven’t read anything like it before yet I really liked it. Warriors being imprisoned in crystals is an original concept. What was fascinating was Wulf didn’t even know more than he was imprisoned and now he isn’t. So the author spent the story revealing secrets and drawing the reader in. Poor Chalcey has the worst luck. It’s a good thing she has Wulf watching her back. I felt bad for her. She couldn’t catch a break with anything. However I didn’t like her stubbornness. It was over the top and border lined the ridiculous.
There was a lot going on and you never knew what the author would throw at you next. I can’t wait to read the next book. I give this book a 4 out of 5.
Pieter trapped the dreaded warriors into the crystals until their true loves are found. Wulf waits in his prison.
Chalcey Laureano needs a loan to get her dance studio off the ground. She is nervous so she is early to her meeting. There is a shop next door that catches her eye and she decides to kill some time. The old man who owns the shop shows her a set of crystals. He holds her hand over them and tells her to pick one. After that she seems to lose time. The next thing she remembers is sitting in the café concluding her meeting.
Then later that night she goes clubbing with her friend Sam. She meets Ray who turns out to be a slime ball. She leaves early. Ray catches up with her and won’t leave her alone. A mysterious man appears and helps her out after giving her the best kiss ever.
Wulf is drawn to Chalcey and needs her. He is fearful that he will be drawn back into the crystal. Chalcey is his only hope to be free but neither realize what is really going on. Chalcey is afraid to open her heart. Things get dangerous when she finds she has a stalker and she is running out of time.
This book had a unique storyline. I haven’t read anything like it before yet I really liked it. Warriors being imprisoned in crystals is an original concept. What was fascinating was Wulf didn’t even know more than he was imprisoned and now he isn’t. So the author spent the story revealing secrets and drawing the reader in. Poor Chalcey has the worst luck. It’s a good thing she has Wulf watching her back. I felt bad for her. She couldn’t catch a break with anything. However I didn’t like her stubbornness. It was over the top and border lined the ridiculous.
There was a lot going on and you never knew what the author would throw at you next. I can’t wait to read the next book. I give this book a 4 out of 5.
December 13, 2011
Do you love strong alpha heroes? If so, you'll absolutely love The Crystal Warrior.
The Crystal Warrior begins with a compelling prologue: An army of warriors sent from another world to pillage women of childbearing age. A brave old man desperate to protect his village. A crystal curse. I knew immediately I had a great story on my hands. AND the writing was excellent, which is a must for me.
Fast forward a few hundred years. Chalcedony is a young woman trying to make it on her own, just opening her own dance studio. She's independent, witty, and strong. I instantly loved her. She quite literally stumbles into a strange little shop where she's inexplicably drawn to a crystal - a crystal that later ends up in her bag with her having no recollection of having purchased it.
When the crystal is broken, Chalcedony finds herself feeling things for a stranger she has never felt before.
Wulf is an ancient warrior who's spent hundreds of years locked away in a crystal cell. He's ill-prepared for this world or for the emotions he hit with when he first sees Chalcedony.
As hard as she may try, Chalcedony can no longer deny the connection she feels to Wulf. Or is it just another part of the curse?
The chemistry between these two jumped off the page, and there was no putting The Crystal Warrior aside until I'd made it all the way through. Wulf is positively swoon-worthy, and Chalcedony was never the frail heroine, but fought for the one she loved until the very end.
Loved it from the first page to the last!
Recommended for adults
The Crystal Warrior begins with a compelling prologue: An army of warriors sent from another world to pillage women of childbearing age. A brave old man desperate to protect his village. A crystal curse. I knew immediately I had a great story on my hands. AND the writing was excellent, which is a must for me.
Fast forward a few hundred years. Chalcedony is a young woman trying to make it on her own, just opening her own dance studio. She's independent, witty, and strong. I instantly loved her. She quite literally stumbles into a strange little shop where she's inexplicably drawn to a crystal - a crystal that later ends up in her bag with her having no recollection of having purchased it.
When the crystal is broken, Chalcedony finds herself feeling things for a stranger she has never felt before.
Wulf is an ancient warrior who's spent hundreds of years locked away in a crystal cell. He's ill-prepared for this world or for the emotions he hit with when he first sees Chalcedony.
As hard as she may try, Chalcedony can no longer deny the connection she feels to Wulf. Or is it just another part of the curse?
The chemistry between these two jumped off the page, and there was no putting The Crystal Warrior aside until I'd made it all the way through. Wulf is positively swoon-worthy, and Chalcedony was never the frail heroine, but fought for the one she loved until the very end.
Loved it from the first page to the last!
Recommended for adults
Read
June 18, 2015I freely admit that I didn't finish this one and it may have improved enough later to justify all the 4 star ratings and rave reviews but sadly I just couldn't get past the first few chapters. And I tried more than once because I actually love this author's YA Freaks series. Chalcy's behaviour mostly annoyed me. Wolf was an arrogant ass. I think Chalcy is supposed to be spirited and supposedly stands up to Wolf, yet she everyone (including her friend Sam) ignores her and then she caves. Doesn't want a crystal - oh there it is in her bag (ok that one was obviously magic and outside her control), doesn't want to go clubbing - she at the club, doesn't want to wear a skimpy dress yet she does, wants Wolf to put her down - he carries up the stairs, she wants Wolf to leave, he spends the night. I did like how she just walked off and left Wolf & Roy fighting. And Wolf - he was the sadly typically arrogant Alpha who completely ignores and dominates the 'little woman' but that is a big turn off for me. Many people like that in a hero so if that's your thing give this one a go. And maybe that changes later in the book, but I was too annoyed by the characters to want to find out (and what if I was wrong and they followed that pattern the whole way through).
April 23, 2014
At first I felt this book wasn't for me.
I am not into the warrior style romances with a character that seems strong but fades into a silly damsel. But as I figured to dig into this book a bit more to see if it was one of said books I was pleased to find this book was quite enticing. The character's held strong to their roles and the story built itself pretty strong without any lack of drawl.
I can't point out to many appealing areas because I would end this in a long list but I feel my favorites were Chelcey's sarcastic and stubburn self, as well as Wolf's knowledge and thoughs about the new world he ended up in made this story more real, something that tends to fade over pages in quite a few books I have read in the past.
I am not into the warrior style romances with a character that seems strong but fades into a silly damsel. But as I figured to dig into this book a bit more to see if it was one of said books I was pleased to find this book was quite enticing. The character's held strong to their roles and the story built itself pretty strong without any lack of drawl.
I can't point out to many appealing areas because I would end this in a long list but I feel my favorites were Chelcey's sarcastic and stubburn self, as well as Wolf's knowledge and thoughs about the new world he ended up in made this story more real, something that tends to fade over pages in quite a few books I have read in the past.
March 22, 2017
The Crystal Warrior by Maree Anderson
This story stated off promising giving us the back story of Crystal Warriors and how they came to be. I even like the initial meeting of Wulf and Chalcey and the humor “Unless we are about to indulge in a romp amongst the cushions, do not bite me again, woman.” but…there was to much jumping from one scene to another that didn’t read as smooth as I would have liked. The beginning and a fair amount of the middle of the book I liked however the rest just felt choppy. There were inconsistencies that made the story difficult to follow. So overall I rated it okay.
This story stated off promising giving us the back story of Crystal Warriors and how they came to be. I even like the initial meeting of Wulf and Chalcey and the humor “Unless we are about to indulge in a romp amongst the cushions, do not bite me again, woman.” but…there was to much jumping from one scene to another that didn’t read as smooth as I would have liked. The beginning and a fair amount of the middle of the book I liked however the rest just felt choppy. There were inconsistencies that made the story difficult to follow. So overall I rated it okay.
June 19, 2013
I'd rate this a 3.5 stars. The premise is intriguing, the crystal warrior Wulf a real 'fish out of water'. I thought the interactions between characters entertaining and Maree has a lovely conversational style. I did get tired of the term 'bitch slap' and think this needs to be left out of narrative. All in all, this is definitely worth a read but would be much better for a really tight edit so that unnecessary sentences and paragraphs could be left out and typos could be fixed. The ending was satisfying and I would read another in the series.
July 18, 2013
First, let me say that the book jacket/description didn't really fit what happened. I didn't get the "she's given up on men" impression until WAY late in the book and even then, it was more like she was trying to avoid sexist jerks than she was over men in general.
Some of the dialogue felt VERY forced and didn't flow very well and some of the terminology was hard to follow, too. It didn't take away too much from the plot, but it was very distracting, either way.
Some of the dialogue felt VERY forced and didn't flow very well and some of the terminology was hard to follow, too. It didn't take away too much from the plot, but it was very distracting, either way.
July 31, 2013
This was a solid 3.5. I was impressed for a free book how well the story was written. The hot scenes started out yummy but devolved throughout the story. In fact the 'bonding' that was to take place before the 'trial', vital to the story, was underplayed and let me down more than a little :(
That being said it was a nice new twist on the para-normal with modern times, hot guys, and good drama. I will be looking for more from this author.
That being said it was a nice new twist on the para-normal with modern times, hot guys, and good drama. I will be looking for more from this author.
September 26, 2014
This book is not exactly my favorite.
I enjoyed the plot, because it's unusual and I'd love to read it more. But there's just too many gap between parts and I find it pretty annoying. I don't like the Hero, he's annoying, and the heroine, as much as I love her I think she's a bit selfish. I don't know why.
But overall it's a good book, just could be so much better than this. I kind of look forward to read the next installment. The blurb sounds pretty intriguing.
I enjoyed the plot, because it's unusual and I'd love to read it more. But there's just too many gap between parts and I find it pretty annoying. I don't like the Hero, he's annoying, and the heroine, as much as I love her I think she's a bit selfish. I don't know why.
But overall it's a good book, just could be so much better than this. I kind of look forward to read the next installment. The blurb sounds pretty intriguing.
December 4, 2012
Enjoyed the story but it was too long and had some editing issues - Jai was spelled Jay several times and there were various other spelling and grammatical errors. They weren't enough to ruin the story though. All the characters were well-written and were fun to follow. If the book had been a lot shorter it would have been better but was overall a good read.
May 17, 2013
I was lucky and got all three books at once so was able to sit down and read them through. Great reads (sexy and sweet) and I love how each book's characters were not a carbon copy of the other books in the series (which does happen with some other authors unfortunately). I just wish there were more crystal warrior books! :D
July 13, 2013
The book had a good start, getting straight to the purpose. The author describe the characters well and their stories all fell into place.
What I didn't like: when chalcedony find she was pregnant I really wanted to see how wulf felt. I would have like the author to elaborate on his emotions and feelings.
What I didn't like: when chalcedony find she was pregnant I really wanted to see how wulf felt. I would have like the author to elaborate on his emotions and feelings.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 7, 2013
I've had this on my reader for a while and the other day I reread its description and remembered why I got it. After reading THE DRYSTAL WARRIOR, I wished I checked it out before. I loved it. The plot is complicated and takes a while to play out. It took a bit for me to really get into the story. But once I did, I was hooked. I can't wait to get my hands on the next ones.
dnf
November 11, 2014I tried to finish this one, I really did. I had been revisiting this one over the past month, but there's only so much I can handle before I must face reality.
The beginning was great. I had that good little 'adventure tingle' thingy going. But once the heroine and hero met, it went down hill. And it was a rapid descent at that.
The beginning was great. I had that good little 'adventure tingle' thingy going. But once the heroine and hero met, it went down hill. And it was a rapid descent at that.
February 18, 2014
I really thought this was going to be an original and epic book. I ended up really bored and disappointed. Nothing happen, the relationship isn't quite there either. The characters don't evolve or anything at all and we are kind of lost in wondering how or why this happened for too long.
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