Review: DOHNER IS BACK!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 27, 2014
I have always thought the Mating Heat series was Laurann Dohner's dirtiest series and I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books. I was sad each year when I would never see any hints at a 3rd being released because I had met some of the side characters and I wanted more from them. So finally when a pre-order came up for Mating Brand it might have been my fastest 1-click EVER.  When it popped up on my Kindle I was super excited to start. Dohner is one of my all-time favorite authors and is a huge part of why I read and blog. But the last year has been rough for me. Her last few books have been landing around three stars for me… I know, I know. Three stars are pretty common from me, but what isn’t common is me three starring this author.  To be honest, I’ve found the content redundant and I don’t mean the same story told in a different way. I actually mean the author is repeating the same thing over and over in the book making me question where the editors are at. Well I’m happy to tell you that isn’t the case in Mating Brand and I seriously want to shout DOHNER IS BACK!We got to meet Brand in book two of this series, His Purrfect Mate (don’t worry you don’t have to read it. I’ll catch you up) where we find out that he was once in love with a leopard shifter who took off on him one day taking his heart with her. The author opens up the book taking us to the past and showing us what tore them apart. They come from two different worlds and their kinds aren’t allowed to be together. I hear you. I too hate when characters are ripped apart for years then brought back together, but this worked for me. Charma had to make some tough choices at a pretty young age. The cat shifter community runs with stricter and more harsh laws so she did what she had to do to save her family, leaving Brand behind thinking that maybe he could move on and find someone who could really be his mate.Nine years later Charma is stuck with an abusive husband/mate who she was forced to be with to keep her family safe. He is abusive in all ways and it’s extremely heartbreaking. The first 10% really pulls at the heartstrings in making me feel for Charma and understanding why she did what she did. Now that her family is safe she could run, but she doesn’t have anywhere to go and has no idea how to even find Brand. She believes the chances of him not having moved on are none. Then one day she finds out her pack is about to attack another and she sees his photo in the stack of targets. She still loves him deeply and if there is one thing she can do it is at least save his life and warn him of what’s coming.Brand is shocked when he comes face to face with the woman he looked for for years. Now that she is in his grasp there is no way he is letting her go. AND BAM! Dohner just explodes all over my freaking Kindle. This all happens rather quickly in the book and most of the story is just about these two making up lost time. But when these two come back together I was instantly in love with the book and head over heels for Brand. He could careless that she left him all those years ago and he is on her… oh and I mean ON HER. It’s so freaking adorably hot. He has just been really a husk of a man while she was gone and he will stop at nothing to keep her all to himself. I was afraid I was going to be getting this back and forth bulls*** with anger and screaming, but there wasn’t. She was his and that was it even if he had to chain her butt to his bed and mark her with his mate mark.Most of the story is a gush of love and mating heat sex. There was one point I was so happy I actually teared up at the sweet things Brand was saying to Charma… in fact I will go as far to say this was the sweetest moment I’ve ever read from the author and she has a lot of sweet moments and I’ve read every book she has ever written. Trust me you’ll know when you hit the scene because it knocked me on my butt. I’m so glad she gave us this over the top sweetness because I, the reader, needed it and Charma really needed it after all she had been through.While this story can be read as a standalone I think you should read them all. There isn’t a series that has three or more books in it that I can say the whole series is stamped Mistress Approved. This one is without a doubt and I even own them on audio… that’s how much I love them. They are a little high priced like all books that come out of the publishing house of Ellora’s Cave, but I’m telling you these are 100% worth it if you love shifter books. I look forward to the next in the series because we got to know some of the brothers/cousins a little more and I think we got a nice little glance of what might be happening with them. I just hope I don’t have to wait 2 years for the next.