Aurora Rising (The Aurora Cycle #1)[January 26, 2024]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I like it too... as long as the relationship is healthy... some mate bond stories are also AlphaHole stories...

[Ann-Marie]

Charlie wrote: "Its one of my favourite PNR tropes!"

Wait until you read Green Creek by TJ Klune <3

[Diana Stormblessed]

Ann-Marie wrote: "Charlie wrote: "Its one of my favourite PNR tropes!"

Wait until you read Green Creek by TJ Klune <3"

I love that series ❤️

[Siobhan]

Nirkatze wrote: "I think it helps that Kal isn't a macho "you will have sex with me and you will love it" type person, but rather "this is my problem to deal with and I won't have it messing up our professional relationship" person..."

This! :)

[Siobhan]

Ann-Marie wrote: "Charlie wrote: "Its one of my favourite PNR tropes!"

Wait until you read Green Creek by TJ Klune <3"

I need to read this soon!

[Ann-Marie]

Siobhan wrote: "Ann-Marie wrote: "Charlie wrote: "Its one of my favourite PNR tropes!"

Wait until you read Green Creek by TJ Klune

I need to read this soon!"

I think there's been talk of doing Green Creek after Verania but that'll be a January start I believe, maybe December....

[Nirkatze]

Definitely in for Green Creek--will have to see if I need a detox after Verania first though... I've heard things get crazy.

BTW thread for book two is live!
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Nirkatze wrote: "Definitely in for Green Creek--will have to see if I need a detox after Verania first though... I've heard things get crazy.

BTW thread for book two is live!
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/..."

Verania and Green Creek are like polar opposites...

[Tonari no Emily]

Mate-bond is hit or miss for me... MOstly if its not an PNR, I don't want it, so I didn't really appreciate it here lol

[Ann-Marie]

Iain is right, they are really different. Green Creek is mostly serious with some humor and lurve/fated mates whereas Verania is OTT humor and some serious parts particularly in the later books.

[Diana Stormblessed]

Ann-Marie wrote: "Iain is right, they are really different. Green Creek is mostly serious with some humor and lurve/fated mates whereas Verania is OTT humor and some serious parts particularly in the later books."

I feel like I should know this but what’s OTT?

[Charlie]

OTT = OVER THE TOP :)

[Diana Stormblessed]

lol thank you! I was not guessing right at all

[Siobhan]

Here I am not knowing what Verania is 😅 looking it up!

[Nirkatze]

Siobhan wrote: "Here I am not knowing what Verania is 😅 looking it up!"

The Lightning-Struck Heart

I have heard stories of a Unicorn named Gary...

[Charlie]

I hadn't heard of it either but it looks great!

[Nirkatze]

We're BR-ing Verania on the 28th of the month from July-December. ^^

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

As long as you go in expecting crude language an lots of baudy humor, I think you'll enjoy it...

I tried BR-ing it with Laura a few years ago, and we'd mostly read Wolfsong & Cerulean Sea beforehand, so had the wrong expectations...

[Nirkatze]

The way y'all described Gary the gay foul-mouthed unicorn back in some old BR has me properly girded...

[Siobhan]

It sounds hilarious! 🤣
They're currently slowly re-releasing all his back catalogue since he got popular so I'm sure there'll be some nice new covers soon! XD

I noticed a different upcoming release available for preorder then I looked on GR and it was out years ago! The Bones Beneath My Skin

[Ann-Marie]

Nirkatze wrote: "The way y'all described Gary the gay foul-mouthed unicorn back in some old BR has me properly girded..."

He is a gay, hornless unicorn who is crude, conceited, hilarious and just wonderful. On the surface this series is the polar opposite to Cerulean but at it's core there is found family, romance, humor and a group of characters who are unique and among my favorites ever so maybe not so different at all.

[Ann-Marie]

Siobhan wrote: "I noticed a different upcoming release available for preorder then I looked on GR and it was out years ago! The Bones Beneath My Skin"

Artemis Darth Vader is so awesome <3

[Nirkatze]

That is totally the best name ever.

[Diana Stormblessed]

So I'm listening to another series which also has a mating link thing and I realized why I don't like the whole mated trope. It feels like love at first sight. Or like you don't have a choice. Yes he gave the "mate" a choice to reciprocate, but for him there was no choice. He's just stuck being mated to this person. What if the person is horrible? What if the person you're mated to kicks puppies for fun or eats with their mouth open and chunks of food are always flying out? And you're just stuck with them? Does being mated mean you automatically love them? But you don't even know then when the mate instinct kicks in in most of these books. How can you mate someone you don't actually love? Is that even possible? It just leaves a lot of either bad possibilities or leaves me feeling sorry for the person that the bond is calling on. And yes, you might say I'm overthinking fantasy books but I do want my books to be believable in world, and I have never been able to make a mate bond fully make sense to me.

Sorry for the long rant.

[Nirkatze]

Hm, you know, that kind of makes me interested to read a book that explores those questions--something where a mate bond connects two people who are clearly incompatible, and it doesn't work out, and they fight to break it. Instead of believing that magic is all-knowing and automatically makes the right decision whether you like it or not.

[Diana Stormblessed]

I would so read that book. Or one where you have mated and are in a bond and everything is going well but then something happens and your mate emotionally snaps and turns into a bad person and how do you deal with it from there. There’s so many things you can explore in this mating bond situation that nobody ever has. Or no books that I have read ever have.

[Siobhan]

Very good points Diana! I would also read a book that explored that.

[Nirkatze]

Yeah... it's like... the Mating bond thing is a shortcut for the hard parts of figuring out a relationship...

Come to think of it, mating bonds in the Mercy Thompson have some of those explorations--in the first book (or maybe it was Alpha & Omega?), there's a pair of werewolves who are mated, but one of them is starting to go crazy... but the mating bond is something that the shifters usually get to choose--they fall in love and then convince their wolf to mate, rather than the other way around. So, mates but not "fated" mates.

[Diana Stormblessed]

Nirkatze wrote: "Yeah... it's like... the Mating bond thing is a shortcut for the hard parts of figuring out a relationship...

Come to think of it, mating bonds in the Mercy Thompson have some of those exploratio..."

Yeah Mercy mating feels different. But generally very much agree on it feels like a short cut. It feels lazy.

[Charlie]

The Riley Jenson series by Keri Arthur goes into this. Riley is in love with someone and has an established relationship when she finds her mate, and it's someone she despises. I can't tell you what happens, because spoilers, but it's interesting!

[Charlie]

Nirkatze wrote: "Yeah... it's like... the Mating bond thing is a shortcut for the hard parts of figuring out a relationship...

Come to think of it, mating bonds in the Mercy Thompson have some of those exploratio..."

I like the way mating is done in the Mercyverse. The humans pick and their wolves usually follow suit. Ofc Charles has to do it the other way around, because he's special :D.

[Choko]

I don't remember which book or even the book itself, but I have read something, where the one part of the bonded pair hated the other and it was a miserable experience for both. I think it was kind of like here - one was from a race that had the mate bonds, and the other was human, and the human did whatever she wanted, leaving the bonded male depressed and feeling terrible, because she didn't reciprocate his feelings... Here this is the same situation..

[Nirkatze]

Choko's description jogged my memory of another series that has telepathic mate-links--Turning Point Sholan Alliance series. But they're treated narratively more as genetic compatibility bonds, and there's a LOT of problems with the pairs that end up bonded, providing a lot of impetus for the plot in the middle books. It's also a physical and mental link, but not an emotional one, and no sense of "fate" involved.

Something very like what @Choko describes happens in that series with side characters, but the series is fairly obscure--in our group, only Niki had shelved it, I think, and that as WTR...

[Tonari no Emily]

In my head the mating bond is all because of Genetics and the best available Baby Making lol
So it doesn't take into account feelings, compatibility, etc., just what's best to produce a "fit" offspring. And most of the time involves a lot of manipulation with hormones to make them fall in love and sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't...

[Diana Stormblessed]

Charlie wrote: "The Riley Jenson series by Keri Arthur goes into this. Riley is in love with someone and has an established relationship when she finds her mate, and it's someone she despises. I can't tell you wha..."

Oh that sounds great! Will check those out

[Charlie]

@Diana There's a lot of spicy time, like a LOT so be warned :D.

[Diana Stormblessed]

Charlie wrote: "@Diana There's a lot of spicy time, like a LOT so be warned :D."

I love spicy books so that’s not so much a warning as a feature to look forward to lol

[Charlie]

haha me too, enjoy! :D

[Katie]

Just chiming in to say I finished the audiobook! I truly enjoyed it! Though still struggled with the names and faces. (view spoiler)[I love looking back on your comments and talking about PNR lol. They don't bother me too too much. But I could see how it might take away some character growth. Regardless it was a fun scifi epic!

Lots of twists and turns. I especially liked when they went to Auri's planet she was meant to study. That had a whole 'nother bit of creepy to it.

I was shocked that they killed off our Aussie friend!! (I can't recall her name at the moment) But those moments of dialogue as she was fighting this alien organism was so tragic!!) (hide spoiler)]

I don't think I'll be continuing to book 2 for this one because I feel like I would want to wrap my head more around some of what happened to who! lol Audiobooks can be difficult or distracting for that. But I hope you all enjoy your read!!

[Charlie]

Katie wrote: "Just chiming in to say I finished the audiobook! .."

Glad you finished, sorry you're not joining us for book 2! (view spoiler)[ Cat's death was super sad, her fighting the hive mind was brilliant and I thought she was so brave. (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Katie wrote: "Just chiming in to say I finished the audiobook! I truly enjoyed it! Though still struggled with the names and faces. I love looking back on your comments and talking about PNR lol. They don't both..."

Having finished book 2 last week, I found it a lot easier to follow and remembered more of book 1 than I thought I did. I don't know if that would go for other folks too, but I went in with the same fears about being able to keep on top of what happened and came out feeling pretty good about it. ^^

[Katie]

@Nirkatze~ That's good to hear at least!! I'll have to see if I can get the audiobook :D

[Nirkatze]

Fingers crossed it holds true for you too!

[Siobhan]

This was true for me!