4 STARS

this Ancient Ink duet was both

swoon worthy



but extra HOOT



LOVED it all! just pick this up already!

Genre: paranormal romance - shifters - magic - clan life - hierarchy and definitely prime male alpha as well as strong females

Age: 18
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Tate's entire world changed when he first laid eyes on Elise. She is his destined mate but being innocent to their world, he cannot reveal this truth without her running scared. She doesn't even know him but now she will get the chance to. His patient instruction and protective nature as he introduces her to her new life and helps her discover and hone her gifts soon win her over. She is a healer, and also a prime target for the Volcan's greatest enemy. Keeping her safe and eventually bonding with her are his sole focuses.

He guides her, helps her grow in skill and confidence as he struggles to hold back on being over-protective and stifling her. The last thing she needs to be is helpless and dependant on him. Their enemy is too powerful and she has an important role to play in the clan. It gets a tad intense as Tate begins to realize the extent of his position and his role as her mate and protector. But it is fun to see how both characters grow into their roles and become exactly what the need to be. Can't wait for the next book.

Advance Review Copy provided by #NetGalley for voluntary review consideration.
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Healer’s Need by Rhenna Morgan
Book #2: Ancient Ink Series
Source: NetGalley
My Rating: 4½/5 stars

Holy hell!! I sure do love it when the training wheels come off and the real fun begins in a series. I enjoyed the first book in the Ancient Ink series, but it had to deal with all the ground work and introductions that are so common to first-in-a-series books. This book, Healer’s Need picked up right where book one left off, hit the ground running, and didn’t let up until the very last page!

Tate Allen knows exactly who is, his place among his people, and where his future lies. He and his companion are completely in synch, he is committed to eradicating the threat to his people, and he is absolutely devoted to the care and protection of his mate. The only problem, his mate has no idea she’s his mate, and she has spent much of her life outside the community and is new to the world Tate is so very entrenched in.

Elise Ralston has spent her life hearing about shifters and magic, but she has only ever half believed in the fantastical stories told to her by her mother. That is, until she is targeted by a powerful and vengeful figure hell bent on taking her life and the powers she didn’t even know she possesses. When the cavalry arrives and takes Elise and her mother into hiding and safety, everything she thought she knew, or half believed becomes crystal clear and her entire world turns upside down and inside out. Oh, then there’s Tate Allen, the stunningly sexy man who helped rescue Elise and her mother and has since refused to even look at her let alone speak to her.

As a gentleman and man of honor, Tate has tried to give Elise time to adjust to her new life and wrap her head around the implications of her new knowledge. By all accounts, once Elise meets the Keeper, she will be made head of the house of Healers and lead a powerful and much needed segment of her new community. Trouble is, Tate’s companion is becoming more and more restless with the need to claim his mate, and Tate is inclined to agree. It’s time to properly court Elise and help her adjust to every aspect of her new life.

Once Tate finally turns his full attention on Elise, she begins to appreciate the full power of her new community. Tate is considerate, accommodating, kind, patient(ish), and willing to help Elise understand her place in their shared world. With every encounter, the bond between Tate and Elise strengthens. What’s more, Tate helps Elise overcome the trauma of her past as well as helping her to embrace the gifts she has and is given by the Keeper. To be sure, the process isn’t at all easy and there are serious impediments to the completion of the bond, but as Tate and Elise both discover, it’s the impediments that make the good times so, so much better.

The Bottom Line: I really liked this book!! With ground work having been put down in book one, there was nothing left to do but dive right into the action in Healer’s Need and that is exactly what you get. From the very beginning, Tate is driven and determined in his quest to claim Elise. With an impatient companion, Tate must reign in his wilder side until he can give Elise all the details of what their bond and their world really is. What I enjoyed most about this book is twofold: 1) Elise doesn’t play games; her world has been turned upside down, but she trusts her instincts and accepts her knew life with arms, mind, and heart wide open and; 2) the big bad is dealt with in a most exciting, sad, and permanent way. Without giving away too much, this book has a tremendous ending that doesn’t drag out an arc far longer than it needs to be. When you add in just how much I like both Elise and Tate, I can’t ever see this being anything less than a favorite in the series. ( )

Tate's entire world changed when he first laid eyes on Elise. She is his destined mate but being innocent to their world, he cannot reveal this truth without her running scared. She doesn't even know him but now she will get the chance to. His patient instruction and protective nature as he introduces her to her new life and helps her discover and hone her gifts soon win her over. She is a healer, and also a prime target for the Volcan's greatest enemy. Keeping her safe and eventually bonding with her are his sole focuses.

He guides her, helps her grow in skill and confidence as he struggles to hold back on being over-protective and stifling her. The last thing she needs to be is helpless and dependant on him. Their enemy is too powerful and she has an important role to play in the clan. It gets a tad intense as Tate begins to realize the extent of his position and his role as her mate and protector. But it is fun to see how both characters grow into their roles and become exactly what the need to be. Can't wait for the next book.

Advance Review Copy provided by #NetGalley for voluntary review consideration. ( )

Healer’s Need by Rhenna Morgan
Ancient Ink #2

Coyote Shifter and warrior Tate Allen is taking his time as he courts Elise Ralston. He believes that Elise is not ready for his more aggressive side so is courting her tenderly and letting her grow comfortable with him. He KNOWS she is his mate but she is perhaps not as up on all things Volάn as she needs to be thus the slower going than his coyote might like.

Elise has a vision-quest to go through, a position in the clan to assume, her past to put into perspective, power to claim and a man who knows she is his…quite a bit for her to tackle but tackle it she does. She is a lot stronger than Tate might think and their relationship was a joy to watch.

Throw in Draven (the terrible evil of this series) and coming up with a way to thwart him while saving another is also dealt with in this book as is the setup for book three in what may be a trilogy although a longer series would not be a bad idea according to me ;)

I really enjoyed spending time with the Volάn and look forward to reading book three when it is ready.

Thank you to NetGalley and Carina Press for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars ( )