Review: ‘Heart of Her Wolves’ by Tara West
I received a complimentary copy of the book from BookSirens in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Heart of Her Wolves
by Tara WestSeries: Court of Fae and Firelight #1
Published by Self-Published on February 26, 2023
SubGenres: Paranormal Romance
Format: eArc
Source: BookSirens
Add to Goodreads
Purchase at Amazon | Barnes & Noble
A witch with no past…A Fae with no future…Two shifters with no hope. Their entwined fates could be their doom or salvation. I have no memories of whatever life I left behind. No clues indicating why the mage pretending to be my father was hiding me away. And now I’m fleeing for my life, hunted by mercenaries who want me dead.
My only friends are a possessive rebel Fae, his temperamental dragon, and his two exiled wolf shifter brothers. Though I’m drawn to the Fae and his brothers, the last thing I need is three jealous lovers fighting for me when I still don’t know who or what I am. Even if my wolf shifters may hold the key to my heart and my memories.
Of one thing I do know—my magic is strengthening, and if I can’t learn how to wield it, I could very well burn this world down.
♥ ♥ ♥
I would’ve given him a spell of flatulence if we hadn’t been sitting in such close proximity. Magic tickled my palms. Maybe a spell of hairy warts.
“Don’t do it, witch,” he rumbled, his breath hotter and heavier, and yet a chill snaked down my spine and raised my flesh. “We can’t afford any more delays.” He pulled my backside flush against his hard chest.“Brute.” Seething, I spoke from between clenched teeth. “What are you doing?” I fought the urge to elbow him in the ribs.
“Making sure you don’t fall off,” he hissed in return.
And before I could answer with a sarcastic retort, Radnor leapt into the air without warning. My heart fell to my stomach, and then the contents of my stomach lurched into my chest. I was too terrified to scream, much less speak, as the world stretched far beneath me, and we ascended right into the clouds. I held tightly to my sack with one hand, and I grabbed Helian’s hands on the saddle horn with the other, digging my nails into his wrist.
“Easy,” he chuckled against my neck, the heat from his breath warming my skin. “I won’t let him drop you.”
But then we broke from the clouds, the dragon’s mighty flapping wings blowing my hair in a tangle behind me. I caught glimpses of thick vegetation beneath us and cragged peaks in the distance, and I couldn’t help but gape in awe at the wide world before me. If I hadn’t been so terrified, I would’ve howled with joy. I was finally free of the man who’d been pretending to be my father after escaping the invisible chains binding me to a mundane life. And now I had a wide world to explore, if it didn’t kill me first.
Heart of Her Wolves is the first book I’ve read from author Tara West. I was intrigued by the cover and then the synopsis to check out the book. It is a long read and has a lot to digest in one book, but I was fully invested and didn’t want to put the book down because I needed to know the FMC’s story and what was going to happen.
I don’t want to go into too much of the story because the synopsis gives the main gist of what happens in the book. I loved that this book included the fate mates trope, which will always be one of my favorite tropes in romance books. The book also had all the magical/powerful beings I love in a PNR/Fantasy Romance: witches, Fae, dragons, etc. I adored the FMC, Anya, and how she was trying to figure out who she was because she had been lied to, and along the way, she was discovering her powers. She’s not a timid witch and has powers that will gain the attention of the wrong people. I loved reading her growth through the book when it came to discovering her true identity.
I had a love-hate relationship with Helian, the Fae Prince. It bothered me whenever he described Anya as a seven out of ten when it came to a beauty scale. He was arrogant and a prick at first to her, and I wanted to go through the book and put him in his place. He does win me over a bit, and eventually, Helian realizes he has feelings for Anya. They do end up spending a lot of time together, and Helian realizes he needs to hide Anya away from his parents, who will use Anya due to her powers.
Helian’s dragon, Radnor, was downright mean to Anya and her familiar (a rabbit named Demon). Still, I understood why he didn’t like Anya because he was a grumpy dragon dealing with what happened to his mate and was protective of his rider getting his heart hurt.
Helian’s brothers, whom Helian ends up taking Anya to for hiding and protection, are dealing with missing their mate, and I understood why they were mad with their brother. Their brother was supposed to be bringing their mate to them, so one of them (Asher) is mean to Anya and doesn’t want anything to do with her, while the other suspects something about Anya and thinks she is their mate, but she looks different. I liked Finn, but Asher drove me bonkers, but again, I understood why he was mad. He was missing his mate. I wish I had had more time with the twins because this part of the story felt rushed. I know the author will probably have more in the next book, which I plan on reading since I can’t wait to read it. I need to know what happens next, especially when Anya finds out more about her powers and faces the ones that want her and her mate(s) unalived/kidnapped.
I did have some minor issues while reading the book. It mainly had to do with repetition throughout the book of the same things being mentioned and then FMC keeping secrets from Helian and the twins. One of them is that Anya eventually realizes her mates are Helian’s brothers and she doesn’t want them to know or she refuses for it to be true. She is warring with herself about telling the twins and even telling Helian, and I wish she would have told them. They were bound to find out.
This book does get steamy/spicy, and I know eventually, the FMC is going to have a HEA that involves multiple lovers. It’s touched on in this book with her finding out her mates and then being with Helian. I’m all for RH/Why Choose in my romance books, especially in a PNR/Fantasy setting. I’ve been reading a lot of Contemporary Romance that has RH, but it doesn’t give off the same appeal as PNR/Fantasy RH.
Overall, I’m definitely interested to continue reading this series from Tara West. I need to know what happens next with these characters, especially with that cliffhanger.
Story Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️.5
Steam/Spice Rating: 🌶🌶.5
Standalone or Part of Series: It’s part of the Court of Fae and Firelight series.
Cliffhanger: Yes.
Would I recommend this book? Yes.
Genre/SubGenre(s): Romance | Paranormal Romance
Trope(s)/Element(s): Fated Mates | Hidden Identities | Dark Secrets | Fae | Witches | Magic | Dragons
This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale. It will help sponsor future giveaways but costs you nothing extra. You can read the full disclosure underneath the Privacy Policy.
My obsession with reading started over 30+ years ago when I went to my first Scholastic Book Fair and found R.L. Stine's Fear Street series. Later, I came across Anne Rice's novels at my public library when I was fourteen when my obsession with vampires started. I was the girl who preferred to be a vampire over a princess any day. My husband says I would leave him a heartbeat for a vampire that looked like Spike or Angel (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) or Damon Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries. (It's true, though, and he's accepted it.)
- Review: ‘Keep Me’ by Sara Cate - December 19, 2024
- Review: ‘You Can Run’ by Rebecca Zanetti - December 17, 2024
- Review: ‘Love Kills’ by Lisa Renee Jones - December 16, 2024