Review: Dark Refuge (Spirit Wild #4) by Kate Douglas

[Eva Millien]

Blurb:

(Off Goodreads)

Emeline Cheval has always felt a darkness in her soul, an emptiness she blamed on her controlling parents. After years of unrest, Emy has finally found some sense of peace by living quietly far away from her family and her pack. But her world is thrown into chaos when she discovers a fellow Chanku trapped in a human trafficking and prostitution ring. Now Emy must turn to the very pack she left behind for help. 

On the outside Gabe Cheval has it all. Stunningly handsome and strong, he’s a prominent and valuable member of the pack—but he carries a fear that he will never find a woman of his own. He remembers Emy from his childhood, and he’s shocked when he goes to help her and discovers that the silly young girl has grown into a sensuous and beautiful young woman—one who tantalizes him with the sense that she could be the perfect mate to finally end his loneliness. 

But even as Gabe and Emy come together to rescue the captive woman and explore the undeniable attraction building between them, the dark menace that lurks deep in Emeline’s heart threatens to push them apart. Through Gabe’s loving and erotic touch and Emy’s open and passionate trust in him, they uncover a horrible secret that could threaten the very core of the Chanku hierarchy. 

My Review:

The fourth book in the Spirit Wild is a riveting romance that captures the heart.  Emeline Cheval’s life is thrown into chaos when she discovers a fellow Chanku trapped in a human trafficking and prostitution ring and she must turn to the very pack she left behind. Gabe Cheval fears he’ll never find a mate of his own until he’s sent to help Emy with a situation and finds that girl he once knew is a grown beautiful young woman. As they explore their attraction, a dark menace lurks deep inside Emy’s heart and threatens to tear them apart.

This steady to fast paced and smooth flowing plot keeps readers shivering in anticipation with suspense, drama, action, and romance.  The author brings the story to life with well written scenes and details that inspire vivid images and capture the imagination, making it easy for the reader to feel as if they are part of this special world of shifters.  Tension builds throughout the story in several different conflicts that keep the reader’s on their toes and draws the reader deeper into the story and the strong compelling characters are easily related to and grab the reader’s attention from the very beginning.

The attraction between Gabe and Emy explodes from the pages and the frequent sex scenes including m/m scenes and multiple partners are hot enough to set the reader on fire, but the mating bond between the two is not an easy one with the darkness hiding inside Emy’s heart making things difficult.  The reader can’t help but get caught up in all the characters stories and empathizing with several of them as most of the women has some emotional trauma to deal with.

This book keeps the reader’s guessing with several twists and the multiple conflicts adds lots of spice and depth to the story. I was completely captivated by the book and the characters from the very beginning and I can’t wait to read the next one.

5 STARS 5 FLAMES

Purchase Links:

http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Refuge-Spirit-Wild-4/dp/194084617X/ref=s...

https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-darkrefuge-1510089-149.html

http://www.booksamillion.com/p/Dark-Refuge/Kate-Douglas/97819408461...

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark-refuge-kate-douglas/1119471563...

http://www.bookdepository.com/Dark-Refuge-Kate-Douglas/9781940846170

http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/dark-refuge

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/dark-refuge/9781940846163-item....

http://books.google.com/ebooks?id=d1qNAwAAQBAJ&dq=Dark+Refuge

Beyond the Page, May 11, 2014, 238 pages,

Available in ebook & print

1 Dark Wolf

2. Dark Spirit

3. Dark Moon

4. Dark Refuge

About Kate Douglas:

(Off Goodreads:)

Some people just seem to know they are meant to write, but it can still take a while to figure out exactly what their career will entail. Kate Douglas started out writing radio copy for a country western radio station in 1972, wrote and illustrated an educational cartoon strip for the American Mosquito Control Association for a number of years, was a newspaper reporter for a small town weekly where she covered everything from high school sports to drug busts, and then, in the mid-1980s, decided to write her first romance. 

Many submissions and rejections followed.

In 1998, she published with a small ebook publisher before anyone knew what an ebook was, but it wasn't until 2005, a full twenty years after finishing that first romance, that she signed with a New York publisher.

In January 2006, Kensington Publishing launched their Aphrodisia imprint of erotic romance with Kate's Wolf Tales, a sexy paranormal series about a lost race of shapeshifters. Kate has continued on as the imprint's lead author, with twenty-one novels and novellas in the full Wolf Tales series. She also has a series with Kensington's Zebra imprint, DemonSlayers, and has just completed her latest Aphrodisia series, Dream Catchers, which opened with the NightShift anthology and her novella, Dream Catcher, followed by the novels Dream Bound and Dream Unchained.

Her next series, Spirit Wild, debuts April 30, 2013 with Dark Wolf. This is a spin-off series that takes place in the Chanku world readers first met in Wolf Tales. Characters are the grown children of the first Chanku.

Kate and her husband of over forty years have two adult children and six grandchildren. They live in the small town of Healdsburg, California, in the heart of the beautiful Sonoma County wine country. 

Where to find the author:

http://www.katedouglas.com/

http://www.twitter.com/wolftales

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16155.Kate_Douglas

For Wolf Tales Books:

https://www.goodreads.com/series/49776-wolf-tales

More books by Kate Douglas:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/16155.Kate_Douglas