This is the first I have read of Danielle Annett and I am happy to say there was a lot I liked about Cruel Wolves and Devious Deceptions.

I’m a complete sucker for enemies to lovers romance trope, and Annett did it justice in this story. I thought the magic system and shapeshifting was very intriguing and described well.

I was put off by the age of our leading lady, and I wish she was a little older for the often mature age themes that run through the book.

There was a cliffhanger ending, and it left me hanging for more! Looking forward to the next book.

Thanks NetGalley for a copy of Cruel Wolves and Devious Deceptions.

⭐️ ⭐️⭐️💫


Cruel Wolves and Devious Deceptions was a total cover pick. I haven’t read anything from Danielle Annette before so wasn’t sure what to expect. The book looked like a standalone but I realised that wasn’t the case. However, it is easy to get into the story and quick to read.

First, thank you <i> NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an independent and honest review. So here we go…

The book could be listed as an urban fantasy but the paranormal elements are down to the minimum and I’m not sure if the reason for this is that this is book 3 in the series and the introduction to the world is done previously. We have shifters (wolves and tigers witch I found quite interesting), druids, witches, vampires and faes in this universe and a game that sounds quite brutal: Infernum

Our girl, Meiying, is a 17 years old that is not very keen to join the sorority that her mum insisted on. She has friends that have kind of move on life (settled partners, babies…) while she is trying to decide what she wants in a way. That been said, she has very clear ideas and she is not scared to voice them out.

Desmond, oh mysterious Desmond, is our alphahole and prick. He has a burden on his shoulder with his role in the clan. He is hunter born, which means that he hunts down any shifter that goes rogue. He is Meiying’s brothers friend and find her like the annoying baby sister.

The attraction between them is like a rollercoaster. They communicate well hurting each other and trying to keep at arm's length but Desmond starts to behave quite overprotective and “hot/cold” towards her. He crossed the line and then behaves like a prick for a while until he crossed the line again.
The end of the book is packed on. Meiying received devastating news and she is not dealing well with pain and grief . Desmond shows that he can be nice and be there for her when she needed it the most but also tell her some cruel truths to make her react.

The ending was a real cliffhanger and I can’t wait to unravel how these two will have their happy ending.

If you are looking for:

⚜️Sassy female that won’t let others tell her what she can/can’t do
⚜️Alphahole that tends to be a prick but can also cook and be kind of a cinnamon roll if he want to
⚜️University atmosphere
⚜️Light paranormal fantasy
⚜️Steamy scenes

Then you will enjoy this book 😉

I was drawn to this from the title. It's the story of Meiying and Desmond, the best friend of her brother. I really enjoy a good enemies to lovers trope and the two MC's have a definite love/hate relationship. Desmond comes across as a bit of an asshole at first, but the dual POV in this book really helped me warm to him by the end. I'll be honest, the second half of the book was much more gripping than the start.
I really liked the world building and the idea of the uni where all the otherworld factions are trying their hardest to get along amidst rising tensions.
This wasn't my usual type of read, but I did enjoy it. A quick easy read, that sucks you in with the characters.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for providing an arc of this book.

I enjoyed this story, and it was definitely full of chemistry! I will be reading other books by the author, and I hope to read more about these two characters as well.

Two things, though, that are worth mentioning.

1. This is not a complete book, it ends on a mild cliffhanger and is not a standalone. Oops, wish I had known that! Haha

2. The age difference that others have mentioned is not necessary to the story and does in fact take away from it. I can deal with the female MC being 17 for most of the book, that's close enough that I can excuse it even though it's not a trope I generally read (underage female MC, older male MC). The issue is the scene that almost made me stop reading. The scene involving the female MC at 14 YEARS OLD and the male MC at 18 YEARS OLD. No. Just no. I don't care if they are shifters, if age doesn't matter because shifters are more mature yada yada--then why is it mentioned so often that she was 14 then and that she is 17 for the majority of the book? In the particular scene that I am referring to the MALE MC HIMSELF even mentions how young she is. That whole bit just grossed me out honestly. And it wasn't one of those "oh she has a teenage crush on him and she initiates a smooch" sort of scenes, either. She didn't initiate it at all in fact.

That 14 vs 18 year age difference bit is the entire reason that I took off two stars.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for allowing me to read "Cruel Wolves and Devious Deceptions." This is the first I've read of author Danielle Annett, and I have to start off by saying that the cover art is absolutely beautiful, and is what drawn me most to this book!

This paranormal romance revolves around Meiying and Desmond, and involves an enemies to lovers story line and is veryyy steamy! I enjoyed Meiying's character, but what definitely threw me off was how young she is, learning that she was only 17 was a tad off putting, especially with various scenes in particular. If she wasn't a minor I wouldn't have as many qualms with this book. That being said, the cliff hanger ending definitely left me wanting more, and I'll definitely seek out more works from this author in the future!

This paranormal romance delivers with tension and forbidden desire.

Desmond is a alpha wolf who feels responsible for one of his pack members including, Meiying. Meiying Is a tiger shifter and headed to her first year at university. Her big brother and his crew whom include sexy Desmond feel like they have to look out for one another. But what they don’t realize is that Meiying doesn’t need looking after especially from a intrusive wolf whom she has history with… Sparks are about to fly and now Meiying and Desmond can’t avoid one another or their feelings any longer as desire starts to sizzle.

I really enjoyed this and would rate this a 4 out of five. I was given this Netgalley ARC for a honest and fair review, Can’t wait for book two!!! Really deserves 5 Chile peppers for all the heat!

First, I'd like to say that I originally requested this book from NetGalley because the cover is beautiful and the title caught my attention. This is the first book I've read by Danielle Annett and I won't be looking to read the rest of the series (this is book 3 in the Blood and Magic: Hellbound series).

This is a paranormal, enemies to lovers story set with college age persons. The female main character is 17 at the beginning of this, which concerned me since it is a romance novel, however any adult activities took place after all characters are 18 or older. I will say we find out about the main character's birthday after the adult activities took place, which makes me uncomfortable. To each their own I guess, it is just a red flag for me.

The main female character, Meiying, seems like your typical college age protagonist. She knows what she wants, but overall she appears two-dimensional to me for most of the book.

The main male character/love interest, Desmond, is the typical jock and just happen's to be best friends with Meiying's brother. His character is more well rounded than Meiying's, however there is nothing spectacular about him that explains why he is the love interest in the novel.

Pros:
- Multiple character POVs
- Easy reading
- Fast paced

Cons:
- FMC is underage (17) for most of the story.
- Scene with questionable consent between FMC and MMC while FMC is 17
- Scene with a 14-year-old kissing an 18-year-old. This was hugely problematic for me.
- Ends with a teaser/cliffhanger.

So I got a copy of this from NetGalley and I really enjoyed this! I read it in a day i couldn't put it down. The only thing I'm disappointed in is the fact I don't have the next one readily available to read hahah!
I really liked Meiyings character. I loved that she's feisty, to the point and just an all round strong woman. She knows what she wants and isn't afraid to stand up for that and I like that in a female lead.
Desmond...let's be real I think we all want a little Desmond in our lives just saying haha maybe not full Desmond but defo hints of him hah!
I'm really interested to see where this story goes and I'm I'm going to be reading the others in this series too! My interest has definitely been peeked.

In Cruel Wolves and Devious Deceptions the hero Desmond is a bit of a mystery. He’s hunter born which means he’ll be the one who hunts down any shifter who turns rogue and I got the impression that this is a bit of a burden to him and keeps him a bit distant from his friends even though he is the ‘alpha’ in their group. Meiying is his friend’s teenage sister and together they are like oil and water. He has an almost pathological need to control her life from what she wears to who she sees so much so that this book has been described as a bully romance but I honestly never once got the impression of bullying. It was more a severe case of overprotectiveness! Meiying is a typical teenage girl and isn’t listening to anyone let alone Desmond where it turns out there is a more than a little bit of history between them.

This was the first book I’ve read by this author and I struggled to get into it. From the blurb I didn’t realise the characters would be quite so young. It’s a paranormal new adult romance but the paranormal element is minimal. Yes there are shifters, fae and vampires mentioned but this story could be set in any university. The only thing that really stood out as otherworldly was the game that Desmond and his friends played, Infernum – which sounded reminiscent of quidditch from the Harry Potter books. This story really comes into its own though towards the end of the book when something happens that devastates Meiying and the angst and emotion poured off the pages and made me glad that I’d stuck with it. Cruel Wolves was listed as a standalone but I think I would’ve enjoyed it more if I had read the previous books in the series if only to have a better idea of the relationships between the various characters.

This book does end a bit abruptly, not so much of on a cliffhanger but more of a ‘to be continued’.

Thank you so much publisher providing an arc! I just devoured this book. I found this book quite intriguing. It was so nerve-wrecking so I can not express enough about the plot. The plot is so interesting that you will find yourself gasping everytime you find something new.
I really like the worldbuilding, and how the author can create a world that has the capability of making us vicariously live through it. I feel like the introduction was a bit too slow-paced for me. The characters are fairly interesting.
Henceforth, it was quite a good read.

So um i read about two pages of this before deciding to DNF this. Thought this was based on werewolves but literally the minute i read the sentence "I'm a tiger." I knew this book wasn't for me. Maybe for other people but unfortunately its not my thing!

Paranormal Enemies to Lovers!? SIGN ME UP!

Centered around two shifters who can't stand being in the same room with each other but also can't but think about being with that other person.

I really enjoyed both Desmond and Meiying. They are strong main characters with layers. Their interactions were the best part of the entire book. And THE STEAM!? Whew, the chemistry nearly jumped off the page.

I was sad about the tragedy that strikes the characters. I think it was a bit over the top and leaves some characters kind of stranded in a way. I also feel like Mei's brother, Zheng, has more of a storyline but it wasn't touched on enough. Also wished all the characters were a bit older, some of the moments felt a bit creepy with Mei being soooo young.

With that being said, the cover is beautiful and the I'm looking forward to more from this author. It ends in a big of cliffhanger so definitely looking forward to see where Des and Mei end up!

New and different

This story took me a while to get into, but i think that had more to do with me personally not giving with the story.

It was well written and sets a mood

This was the first book that I had read by this author. And I really enjoyed it. It definitely has that 'touch her and die' trope with enemies to lovers as well. And in case you didn't catch it this is a paranormal romance.
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Spoilers Ahead!
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The one thing I didn't enjoy so much was that it felt like I was missing a bit of background information. Although the author does a good job of helping with this. However, this just makes me want to go back and read her other books to find out what I missed.
Initially I thought this was going to be a bully romance, which isn't my cup of tea. But it wasn't it was more of a mutual animosity. It's for this reason that I need to read the other books to get a better understanding of the character.
Be forewarned! This book is steamy! Loved the chemistry between Desmond and Meying. It left me thinking that their feelings for each other run a lot deeper and they are just fooling themselves.
That ending though! Yeah, I'll be checking the next book out if just to figure out what happens with everyone.

If you love enemies to lovers, this book is for you. I was hooked from the first page and found myself wanting to know more about this world.
The book is multi-perspective and I really liked that, it was good to see what each other was thinking and I enjoyed their love-hate chemistry.
The story is very face paced and I finished the whole thing in a few hours.
The book does end on a cliff hanger, which left me begging for more; I hope the next one is released soon and picks off EXACLTY where this one left off!

Paranormal romance, shifters, brother’s best friend, and enemies to lovers. This is the first in a duology and ends on a cliffhanger. My biggest issue was the 4 year age difference, especially with the romance starting when the female lead is 14 and the male lead is 18.... while she does turn 21 in the book, I just wasn’t comfortable with the whole 18 year old has a thing for the 14 year old. Take that out, it’s an okay read. It follows a female tigress shifter who has moved into a new sorority dorm at the same college as her brother and his best friend, Desmond, a werewolf alpha who she has always had issues with. The story covers themes of family, grief, love, relationships, and with a dose of smut. Maybe this could be for you, but unfortunately it didn’t work for me.

*Thanks Netgalley and ARC provided by Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

When I first started reading Cruel Wolves & Devious Deceptions by Danielle Annett I wasn’t sure I was going to like it. All the male characters seemed like assholes but the main female character, Meiying, was able to stand up for herself which is what saved it for me. And I think if you’re reading a book like this you’ve come to accept that the majority (if not all) of the male characters are going to be possessive supernatural beings and I managed to look past it.

But almost 4 hours later I’ve somehow finished the entire book in one sitting and now I can’t wait for more. Annett managed to cover the beauty of family, friendship, grief and lust in a very short space of time.

I don’t think this book will be for everyone but it was such a quick and easy read that I couldn’t put it down. It has werewolves and is full of smut, what more could you want? I hadn’t read any other books by the author before this one, and this book can be read as a standalone.

The story did end very abruptly, but if anything it’s only succeeded in making me want to read the next instalment even sooner.

Thank you to NetGalley, Victory Editing and the author.

My review can also be found on Goodreads at: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4271600075

3.5/5 stars
Normally, this would not have been a book I’d read, but I saw it on Netgalley and I thought to myself “why not?”. Mostly because it had some of my favourite tropes “enemies to lovers” and the being in love with your brother’s best friend trope. I was approved for the arc and immediately began reading.
The book is about the 17 (almost 18) year old Meiying, who’s moving into a sorority dorm in college. She’s also a tigress shapeshifter! Her brother and his friends go to the same college, which is a big deal for Meiying, since she’s always hated her brother’s best friend (and housemate), Desmond. Things happen, and it ends with a big cliffhanger.
The writing style is okay, if not a little simple. It kind of reads like a fanfiction, but it sure was enjoyable. The 1st person pov threw me off a bit at first, but I got used to it fairly quickly.
I especially liked how the author described the shapeshifting and the emotions that run through the shapeshifters’ minds.
One thing I was slightly uncomfortable with was the 4-year age difference, especially in a particular flashback where Meiying was 14, and Desmond was 18. Even in the current timing of book she is 17 and he is 21/22. She turns 18 in the book though, which is a bit better I guess?
The spicy scenes were pretty good though. I have to be honest, I fell hard for Desmond.
Overall, I enjoyed this book wayyyyy more than I thought I would. It was an enjoyable and a fast read, I read it in one evening. I would recommend this book for when you’re in a bit of a reading slump and just need something easy and fun to read.

This was a good enemies to lovers story, it isnt the best that I have read in this category and it wasnt the worst. The writing was good and I liked some aspects of the characters. The front cover is so eye catching, it is gorgeous. Overall an enjoyable read

I did not finish this. I didn’t make it through the 2nd chapter. I stopped as soon as the male protagonists started mentioning sexual thoughts about the 17yo female protagonist. That’s a big nope for me.