Gentle Scars

This is Book Two in the 'To Be Claimed' Series, and it did not disappoint. To sum up the first book - Wounded Kisses; there’s a treaty between shifter werewolves and humans. The treaty demands that every year the women in town become an offering for the shifters. The werewolves haven't taken an offering in generations; but best friends Lizzie and Grace are still worried. And they should be, the werewolves take them both to become 'mates'. Grace and Devin’s connection seems to happen very quickly which I thought a great parallel to Lizzie and her mates- yes mates, two mates. Book One does need to be read first. Book Two in this paranormal/shifter romance series introduced vampires. While the story still involves the shifters and humans, we get to meet Veronica. She's dark and alluring, a vampire and we find that she is also Vince's mate. Veronica is a woman who needs control and Vince has to shred his strong wolf persona and submit to his mate to have her. There's also Grace and Devin struggling to accept each other's differences in the sense that Grace wants Devin to be more open towards her and Devin wants her to simply trust him. Then there's the trio of Lizzie and Dom and Caleb.... you'll just have to read that one 😍😍🔥 🔥 Behind everyone's side stories - there's something going on with the vampires. The shifters need to find out who is behind this and why. Gentle Scars also leaves you on a cliffhanger for a third book, but it's totally worth it. We also get the other couples POV’s so you need to read these in books order. As much as I loved the couples and the sexy scenes, I really wish I could have seen Grace and Lizzie reconnect as best friends in this new life after they accepted their mates. Throughout the book it is very clear they are very dependent on one another, so a mutual meet up at then end would have been the icing on the cake for me. But again, there's still another book. I'll wait patiently. All characters are easy to love, Willow Winters is an amazing writer. I'm ready for Book Three!

honestly, still kind of conflicted, haha. willow is an author i quickly took to after reading Tell Me You Want Me in august, and when i read wounded kiss yesterday, but this just didn't do it for me. i did enjoy it to an extent, but the break-neck speed pacing made it hard for me to connect to the characters. readers were warned that this would be a PNR smutty romance and don't get me wrong, vampires, werewolves, smut? love them. but this book revolved a lot around sex. then again, this is part of a series/saga, so i look forward to the rest. the new addition of vince and veronica made me so happy. i loved veronica's character—she's a domme, got the whole "Call me Mistress" thing going for her minus the bdsm. vince, cannot not love him. he treats his mate like she hung the moon and the stars. that cliffhanger though, i'm agnostic but i have to say: je-sus christ. devin and grace; it was rocky start for us in this book. devin needs a slap or two, same with grace. however, i was glad they managed to resolve their issues. they still have a long way to go, but i know there will definitely be better communication and more character development as the series progress. caleb, lizzie, dom. my heart is still broken for lizzie and dom. caleb, i have my reservations about him. he genuinely seems like a nice guy who loves his mate and cares for his pack, but i have a bad feeling about him. that aside, lizzie warned up to them quickly and whilst i'd normally love that, it was so sudden. i reiterate, break-neck speed. i'm glad she was more of herself by the end, though. still, i barely know what her character is like or the rest of them because both books were paced so quicky. i look forward to seeing the progression between the three couples, and hopefully a fourth and fifth couple will be added with jude and lev. i want to know more about their characters. all in all, i enjoyed this book but i'm not quite satisfied.

Gentle Scars is book #2 in the To Be Claimed Saga. Just like Wounded Kiss it's multiple POV, and it was mainly navigated from Lizzie and Grace's perspective of the following events leading up to this book. There was also Devin, Dom and Caleb's perspectives as well. However, there are two other characters' perspectives in Gentle Scars: Veronica and Vince's, he was briefly mentioned in the previous book. I enjoyed reading Wounded Kiss, and I was looking forward to reading Gentle Scars. The synchronization of events flowed smoothly in this book!! Although, I'm not a huge fan of multiple POVs (more than three) but in this series its definitely needed! Because of Willow Winters' writing technique the multiple POVs didn't tire me at all. The change from one perspective to another tied in so well with one another; their stories intertwining together. Hence, it made my reading experience more enjoyable to read. Wow! I just loved reading Veronica and Vince's perspective! They are two very dominant characters and two different supernatural species. And their friendly banter and the chemistry between them my goodness. Vince and Veronica sure did enjoy playing games as they challenged each other. Dominance oozes out of Veronica, hence she's not afraid to take control, in fact she demands it. I mean, she literally brought Vince down to his knees. Vince isn't someone to be submissive, yet he yielded to Veronica, and he didn't mind it at all. Grace stubborn as ever wasn't afraid to go head-to-head with Devin, she definitely kept him on his toes. Grace was already trying to navigate through turbulent waters. Her life drastically changed, hence she was thrown into another world that she had little knowledge of. As Grace started to learn new information and rules you could say that she felt overwhelmed. She felt at lost, like she was loosing the control of her life. Ahh, Lizzy my heart broke for her! She was still afraid to acknowledge her past, coming to terms with how it deeply impacted her. The scenes featuring Caleb, Lizzy and Dom it was just too hot to handle. But the ending!! I couldn't believe my eyes!! I was like no, it cannot end that way! Veronica can be seen a strong character, yet she has a vulnerability and this was revealed in the last few pages. Ahh, need book #3 soon. **I received an ARC in exchange for my honest