Ronan (Mate's Mark Book 1)

Rating: 5/5 Stars Spice: 3.5/5 Peppers Easily one of my top reads for this year. I am obsessed with this spin on monster fated mates mixed with a post-apocalyptic world. Sometimes dystopia books kind of blend together, because they all have those common elements. There's usually some sort of martial law and rebellious bands of folks trying to avoid said martial law. And too often, the first quarter of the book is spent with world building to the point it feels like the story is never going to go anywhere. The development was done at a very natural pace in this one. I never felt overloaded with information, yet I could very clearly see the world that was created. Ronan and Cameron were a sort of ironic couple to me, because both of them were stuck in worlds they didn't necessarily belong in for reasons outside of their control. Cameron is living a solo life because of things that happened in his past that stole his home from him, where Ronan is living a violent life that he never had a choice to refute. I've seen other reviews saying that Cameron was sarcastic and bristly. OF COURSE HE WAS. He's trying to mind his own damn business and gets literally swept away into a prison where every bit of freedom he's ever had is swept away. At the beginning, Ronan is not only the monster that he's been trained to hate, but is also his literal captor. I'd like to see anyone be sunshine and rainbows in that situation, especially as we learn about everything that happened to him in his…

This book was absolutely phenomenal. A unique storyline, characters you fall in love with, sarcastic banter that'll have you in stitches, and tear jerking moments that'll break your heart and put it back together. G. Eilsel has done it again with another masterpiece 💕 I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Cameron is so ballsy, brave, and ridiculous. He’s snarky and made me laugh so much. Ronan becomes a little snarky and sarcastic, but it mostly seemed like Cameron rubbing off on him. :-) These two have so much playful banter; they’re just a really fun couple. There isn’t a lot to laugh at in the world, so enjoying each other is so important. The world building and plot is phenomenal. I was engrossed from start to finish. It definitely ends on an HFN, which the reader knows going in. I can’t wait for the next books, especially knowing who one or maybe two of the next couples are. Also to learn more about what’s been going on, and the secret location and people taken there.

Very well done. The story keeps tension throughout, the pacing and character voices are very well defined and I'm curious to read more in this world. There were a few things that didn't really make sense. Cameron and to a lesser extent Ronan kept using modern references (tv series and practices) phrases and idioms that a person living in the apocalypse, 80 years after the fall of society, wouldn't know. And it constantly yanked me out of the story. Cameron's whole attitude didn't really make sense for a person living in a lawless apocalyptic world where being "snarky" "sassy" and "sarcastic" could get you killed in an instant. That and his massive insecurity really seemed like his whole personality and I found it very annoying. The red hot spicy scenes made up for it though 😄

This was a great start to this new series! Love the premise and enjoyed the storyline. Excited to learn more and these two MCs were funny!