Enraptured (Kaldor Saga, #1) by Scarlet Hyacinth

Enraptured (Kaldor Saga, #1) Reviews

• 
  Neyjour

  The synopsis for this one sounded wonderful...just the type of story I really love. I was also looking forward to reading what would have been my first foray into Mpreg. It started out quite good, but once Lucien and his companions (and Gabriel's bothers) were introduced, it all just went right down the toilet.
  
  If this had been a contemporary, the dialogue and the way the characters acted would have been truly silly and juvenile. For a science-fantasy setting, with demon and alien characters...it was downright ridiculous. They all acted like a bunch of immature American teenagers and if I had to read the word "bro" one more time, I was going to scream.
  
  The first third of this story (the point at which I gave up) was also riddled with errors. Whoever edited this book should have been smacked and then fired.
• 
  Bookwatcher

  
  Regardless the countless "bro" (well, I must agree with my friend Ares, it was repeated too much) I ADORED this book. It's a very sweet fantasy/sci-fi/romance!!!! Oh yes, I have no idea if I should classify it as fantasy/sci-fi or just as a romance... because it's all! No kidding!
  
  The plot
  Imagine a parallel/alternative reality. Humans have magic, healing power, can see people aura. And their don't call themselves humans, but Alarians. They know about the strange world of humans, but it's sort of a taboo to them talk about portals or anything related to humankind or the human world.
  They share their world with non humanoid creatures... winged creatures called Xeetah... winged creatures, that we, humans, would call demons!
  YEAH!!! Cool no? Oh yes, it's a VERY cool plot! And oh HELL YEAH!!!! DEMONS!!!! WINGED DEMONS!!!!
  
  no wait, I'm must take a step back... so, Alarians and Xeetah share a world, and their reins are always negotiating for peace pacts.
  
  The story will be from two characters POV, one a Alarian prince, Gabriel, and a Xeetah prince, Lucien.
  
  The cool stuff, that made me scream "squeeeeee" [image error]
• 
  Alyosha

  This has to be one of the hardest novels to rate. I quite enjoyed Enraptured, but it DEFINITELY was a book by woman for women and was in no way a realistic portrayal of male/male relationships.
  
  If you enjoy yaoi-ish m/m fantasy novels with a cute "uke" and a sexy "seme" this will be the book for you. If you also happen to like mpreg as a theme, all the better.
• 
  Leah

  After reading the first few chapters I was rapt; this seemed liked my kind of novel: dubious consent, a lil kink, a protagonist that was completely debased yet retained his empathy and humanity and then....I don't know what the hell happened! The language and dialogue changed, I've never read "baby" in such frequency, a hardcore BDSM novel descended into the most emasculating harlequin-esque drivel I've ever read. :/ Don't take my word; read it for yourself, though I think:
  Sacred Fate and
  Acquainted with the Nightare better examples of MPREG characters that manage to hold on to their masculinity.
• 
  Readers Roundtable

  Jaymes’ Review:
  
  Gabriel’s life is nowhere near the idyllic life of prince. His life has been a living hell since he was sent to live at the monastery thanks to Lothar. In Enraptured everything Gabriel expects to happen changes the moment he falls into the arms of Lucien, a demon prince.
  
  Lucien wants Gabriel but is in Alaria for the purpose of keeping the peace between the two races. Instead of following his desire he cruelly pushes Gabriel away only to realize that was the biggest mistake he ever made. With the help of his brother and friend as well as Gabriel’s brothers, he finally takes steps to claim his mate.
  
  Love, pain, betrayal and misunderstandings lead Lucien and Gabriel on a journey to find each other and the love they both crave. Lucien gently blunders his way through the myriad of misunderstandings he and Gabriel encounter. Even though he’s been cruelly abused, Gabriel still clings to hope. With the help and love of not only Lucien but his brothers, Gabriel is able to move forward even though darkness still hovers on the edges.
  
  Enraptured was a roller coaster ride of ups, downs, twists, and turns. Scarlet Hyacinth has brought us a unique and interesting new world and fascinating characters.
  
  Rated 4 Gold Crowns by Jaymes!
• 
  Nikki

  Read as part of the GB challenge and recommended to me by Nikyta (thanks!)
  
  This seems like the start of a really good fantasy series and I can definitely see myself reading the rest of it.
  
  I think the first half of the book was better than the second. I really enjoyed reading about Gabriel's life at Kirgil monastery and how he works hard to maintain his dignity in the face of the cruelty he experiences there.
  
  I also liked reading about Lucien and the other demons but there were some elements of the second half of the book that were just a bit too "cutesy" for me. Gabriel also seemed to become kind of spineless, and needed protecting and re-assuring all of the time, which seemed a bit at odds with the strong young man we read about at the start of the book.
  
  However, overall I enjoyed the story, and I think the world Scarlet has created holds lots of potential for interesting adventures in the rest of the series. I am also intrigued to see how the whole mpreg things turns out!
• 
  Elisa Rolle

  First of all, big warning: if you don't like a chick with masculine "characteristics" (don't let me go into details), you will not like this book. I think we have to be quite sincere, there are books written by men for men AND women, there are books written by women for women AND men, and then there are books written by men FOR men and by women FOR women. It's not impossible that men could enjoy romance only for women, I know there are out there men who read, for example, Danielle Steel, and more recently, Suzanne Brockmann. But they are aware that they are entering an exclusive playfield, a playfield that is open to special admission nevertheless.
  
  Enraptured is a romance by women for women. It's a man on man story, but the I would not say that it's gay. True, being setting in a futuristic world where "homosexuality" is not more an issue, there is not even the smallest problem for the "all male" nature of the characters. More, being an inter-breed story, between Demons and genetically modified Humans, the issue is more the difference in race than the same-sex relationship. To add spicy to the thing, the Demons are an all male breed, their women all died for a virus centuries before, and they naturally modified their genetics to be able to reproduce between males. So yes, there is male pregnancy in there, and that is another plus factor for the submissive male to be more a chick than a rooster.
  
  Said all that, it's a good romance? IF you try to read it knowing the purpose for which it was written, then yes: Enraptured is a funny romp, the futuristic setting is light and easy and the story didn't fall in the overadorned style that usually these stories have. The futuristic world is very much like a medieval "romance" setting, not the real Middle Ages, but more the fictional rendering that you often find in a romance novel; the plot is classic, the bastard son of a king raised in a monastery and subject to the lascivious attention of a villain, a powerful mage. Just when the evil father promised the innocent son to the villain for a much abhorred mating, an handsome stranger prince comes to the rescue of the "damsel" in distress. Only that the prince is not exactly a "prince charming", but more a demon with black leathery wings.
  
  Where is the originality of the story? I think it's in the lightness, all events, even when dramatic, are more funny than angst. This is more a sexy romp than a sci-fiction novel. There are also a lot of kind homages to similar fiction out there: the human princes have long and colorful hair, they have to be virgin till they come to age, and so on.
  
  So yes, if read with the right perspective, this debut novel by Scarlet Hyacinth is very nice, and I think I will read also the following books in the saga.
  
  
  http://www.amazon.com/dp/1606015826/?...
• 
  Lexi Ander

  This is a fantastic start to a new series. Vivid world, complex characters, and an excellent plot. Lot's of twist and turns, angst, hot sex and an endearing love story. Started right into book two because I was desperate to know what happens next.
• 
  Lola

  Ignore the picture cover, it looks really bad but the book is not bad. It turns a bit fluff and corny after half way through.... -_-
• 
  caroline wilson

  2.5 to 3ish rating for me:(
  I read the description of this book and it intrigued me so I started reading, I don't so know much if I like it or not. Sounds strange but true the first half of this book I was like yes this is a good in, prisoner in torment, evil baddy/baddies, intrigue and a romance it had it all but it fell flat by the middle to ending which was a shame as it had all the potential to be brilliant. I felt that there was not enough description except for being a bit to smoshy and damsel in distress as the character Gabriel just kept crying which slightly annoyed me, don't get me wrong I don't mind a bit of crying when it warrants it but I just think it was slightly overdone. Also it didn't complete the story with the baddie and the fight was non existent in the story as well as the outcome of the king and queen but also we were expected to believe that one of Gabriel's torturers would suddenly have a change of heart and some other characters also flipped at a drop of a hat so they didn't feel realistic. No this book had potential but left out huge parts of the story for a more rounded read. I wanted more instead of just weak characters and too much sweet. But saying all that I am intrigued whether the author will continue the story on whether the baddies make another reappearance but considering the other book are up £6-£7 quid it will just have to be unsolved for me as I think it's charging to much and not even for a full novel.
• 
  Ianthe

  DNF 52%
  
  I’m a little disappointed: the book started out good but it started declining after the MC met the ML.
  It has potential but it needs to be heavily edited. The characters feels like caricatures, at times childish and some scenes are stereotypical. There’s no character’s insights and the dialogue feels unnatural, too artificial.
• 
  Jaimee Ghost

  Wow.
  
  Wow.
  
  Wow.
  
  Um.
  
  I'll start by saying that Kalin is my absolute favorite, as you'll find from the comments I made whilst reading. He and Cade were probably my only driving force in finishing this book, or at least paying attention to what I read.
  
  What I liked:
  
  The family aspect. I desired this in an m-preg book because really when you mention pregnancy, it just HAS to involve family of some sort. And the family can also provide insight to certain characters that we wouldn't know if they hadn't been a part of the story.
  
  The angst. It was laced on pretty thick there in the beginning, but if you stuck through it and dealt with Gabriel's whining you came to find a truly agonizing situation that stood out from the others that Gabriel just HAD to cry over.
  
  The characters (mostly). TEAM CADE AND KALIN firstly. Team Orin and Zeli second. Team Lyan and Seyran third. Team Gabe and Lucien last. Though I do suppose they are perfect for each other, as they both whine frequently throughout the book. The chemistry and relationship between these characters was enchanting, though Kaze and Destyan confused me, surely.
  
  M-PREG!!!!!!!!! Always good on the m-preg.
  
  What I didn't like (I'll be honest, this list is longer than the one above):
  
  Gabriel. He annoys the shit out of me and I'm sure he'll do so even more when I read the next book. *shifty eyes* he just....never stops whining.
  
  Lucien. Again, never stops whining or fucking up or showing up somewhere naked.
  
  Grammar. Really, can we get a better editor? Re-read some sentences three times. Found some strange inconsistencies.
  
  Language. I don't understand how these people talk. One second it's all "sire, my pretty, my beautiful whoever, naught, never more, beloved" then the next it's, "bro, shut the fuck up, tell me you like my cock, fuck me harder, fuck shit fuck, bro, more bro, whatever, you're being a bitch." I'd prefer one stick with either contemporary or more historical language so that way in the sample if the language is constantly historical I'll know that I am not interested.
  
  Writing style. There wasn't anything....unique......about the writing. No creative pauses. No strange spacing. No chapter names or poem snippets or anything to distract you from the actual content while still being relevant. Reading the book itself was kind of boring, but thankfully the content and my need for more Kalin and Cade saved me stopping.
  
  And that's about it. This was indeed a "good book" because it did keep my interest and I'm going to read more (GIVE ME MORE KALIN AND GIVE IT TO ME NOW) *clears throat* and I do understand why this book got the ratings it did here. But it is good and you won't regret it after you get passed the first.....half.....ahem, of the story.
  
  Last words:
  
  I LOVE KALIN.
  
  
  
• 
  Valentina Heart

  I must admit that the first part of the book was much better than the second. Until Gabriel meets Luce the whole story moves in a very different tone, but once the issues between them got resolved, it was like Gabriel turned into a completely different man. From someone who was good, sad and serious, he became this almost feminine version of a child. Jumping around and using Yay as well as other playful expressions way too often for someone who was up to that point a slave and royalty. I found that to be very unrealistic considering his past, and on that note, there should have been a lot more work invested in the characters. It almost seemed as if the book switched from fantasy to contemporary at one point and everyone started acting very different than it was first hinted at.
  
  That complete change of personality, although annoying at times, didn't really steal from the plot. That part was very satisfying for me and a certain level of tension was maintained throughout the book. I agree that the malepreg details could have been better as well as a bigger part of the book, but I'm under the impression that this book was only the first part of three and I expect the others to successfully continue where this one ended.
  
  Another flaw that maybe wasn't as obvious but which caused me to falter in reading, was the instability of the side characters. It was like they fought for the spotlight the whole time, but I was never given enough information to get to know them better. I expected their POV and enough details to combine them more firmly into the story, but instead they constantly hovered somewhere close but just out of reach.
  
  I admit that this review sounds more negative than positive, but overall I liked this story. There are better ones out there, malepreg too, still, this one held me interested to the very end and I came to like all the characters enough that I want to read the rest of the saga. I wish the author stayed true to her first voice, where all that beautiful darkness consumed the story and made it a five star read. But since that wasn't the case, I hope the next one lives up to my obviously high expectations.
  
• 
  Toofan

  Half a star.
  Read before buying. chances are you decide that it isn't worth your money!
  Horrible editing . Beside all kind of editorial mistakes, made by the author, the last sentence of almost each page was something like:
  The blood flowed freely in Lucien’s Ebook
  He hit Cade, probably hurting Ebook piracy
  They found a guest room with a Ebook piracy
  He always felt tainted, ruined beyond Ebook piracy
  And it would have been acceptable if the story itself was worth reading. It started well enough and the first half of the book or so was at least halfway OK, despite plot holes, stupid solutions to problems and many illogical things regarding the settings and minor characters , etc. But after that, well it turns beyond stupid in many ways. The behavior, manner and even dialogue of the characters are not that of princes or even of adults. Not even elder teens I am afraid!
  At some point Gabriel starts behaving like a brain damaged extremely weak female. And with the whole Male pregnancy thing the story feels like an extremely poorly written heterosexual romance , edited into a m/m without changing any thing except a small modification when it comes to the sex.
  
• 
  Vivian ♪(┌・。・)┌

  Rating: 2.5/2.75 or somewhere in between.
  
  I was very much unimpressed with this, but, I was kind of expecting (and hoping) that it would be a kind of stupid, mindless read, so that's okay.
  
  It wasn't bad, to be honest, just okay. Or a bit under okay.
  
  It did have it's moments where it touched me in all the right places (sadness when sadness needed to be there, laughter when I should laugh, etc). Of course, speaking of laughter, I did laugh at the book at inappropriate moments. But that's okay.
  
  Iffy iffy:
  
  This is a really stupid thing to be iffy over, and there are so many other things I could focus on in this section, but hey, my reviews are pretty quirky at times.
  
  So, what I really really wanted to happen was for Gabriel to give birth in this book.
  
  Yeah, that's my iffy section.
  
  
  Verdict: Light, kind of useless read which has abuse, but nothing that can't be handled.
  
• 
  Arielle

  Gabe is quite cleverly hiding his deficiencies in thinking through excessive emotions. In almost every situations he bursts into tears - perhaps just to avoid expressing his opinion. He jumps from Never-Even-Consider-It to Yeyy-I-Will-Be-Mother frame of mind in the matter of seconds. He is definitely overemotional... even before getting pregnant. I will keep silence on his mate - poor excuse for a demon. And it's only a few complaints I have. I was not expecting a great book - just something nice, but what I read really surprised me. Against. I will not read further parts of the series.
• 
  adrienne

  this one was better than most of the below mentioned serials.
  
  typical Scarlet Hyacinth serial romance. nothing fantastic, nothing so bad it can't be finished. what is typical Scarlet Hyacinth? imagine a shorter harlequin romance but with no t&a (see, i was going to write no surprise pregnancies, but... yeah.).
  
  out of sheer laziness, i will be using this as my template for all serials by UNLESS motivated otherwise by markedly good/bad writing:
  Scarlet Hyacinth
  joyee flynn
  sunny day
  lynn hagen
  stormy glenn
  carol lynne
  gabrielle evans
  
  i'd apologize, but i'm not sorry.
• 
  Patricia

  I really don't know what I thought to be honest!
  There were parts of the book that I really enjoyed but in equal measure there were parts that really annoyed me.
  
  The world and the characters were well developed but there were parts of the book were I thought the author drag on and it became boring, I caught myself doing something that I really hate which is scan some pages instead of reading them.
  
  I just thought the whole book did not achieve its potential... that's the reason of my two stars.
• 
  Jess

  Quite a long involved epic. 300ish PDF pages epic lol
  
  Because this is a series there was some major plot threads left hanging. The first half of the book seems like things were going to be a bit of a political intrigue type of novel. But by the second half it was all about the relationship and how it developed (mpreg part)
  
  Im impressed and looking forward to the next one.
  
  Reread Oct 2013
• 
  Melanie

  I started reading this a while back and had to stop around chapter three because it just seemed an awful lot for one person to go through.
  So I started it again yesterday, I forced myself past that terrible beginning and became fully engrossed.
  On the whole, I really liked it. Some parts I felt were rather rushed. But it was nicely written with properly separated POV changes.
• 
  Nene

  Oh my! Hot demons! I liked the beginning of this a lot, but it kinda got soft there in the middle. It was good enough for me to want to continue reading the series to see what happens.
• 
  Kimberly

  Nothing I like better than a Dom Demon and a Sub half-human. Great story! Can't wait to read the rest. Oh, and the unexpected addition was nice too. LOL!
• 
  Raya

  Simply amazing!World building,history and the different races are very interesting and promising for the future books.The love story is beautiful and the erotic scenes are hot!
• 
  Maame

  Not sure what to make of this one.
• 
  Ely

  Why do I read this???