The Cauld Ane are a form of immortal Vikings, who moved from Iceland to Scotland in the 1400s. The core team that the stories revolve around (at least to start with) include siblings Kade, Connall, Brodie and Fiona, along Fiona's mate Angus and his sister Payton. Most of the Cauld Ane are hundreds of years old, with some of them having been born in Iceland in the 1400s, although Payton is only 14 at the start of the series. There is virtually no explanation as to why they differ from humans. They eat the same (they don't drink blood) although they eat more often, however they can't abide any heat over 20 degrees Celsius, and they're all allergic to almonds of all things.

The idea behind the books was fine, but I found the books themselves a little lacking. Each book focuses on a different mated pair. Each Cauld Ane 'knows' who his/her fated mate is as soon as they are 25 years old....assuming their mate is alive and they meet. Connall and Pepper meet just after her 25th birthday.

There were some good things. I liked the use of unique gifts for different Cauld Ane, and how those were integrated into the stories. There were definitely a few things that were unexpected which kept the books from being overly predictable. I even liked the characters and how each one had a unique personality that made them interesting. Now if only the actual romance between the two main characters lasted a whole book and not just a fraction of it...

There were a few things that irked me.
- Instalove. The Cauld Ane half of the relationship falls into instalove as soon as they meet their mate. It is literally impossible for them to cheat on their mates, physically or emotionally. They love their fated mate from the moment they meet. The end. Ugh. That made it frustrating, because they were declaring love for these people they genuinely didn't even know, or perhaps had met only hours or a few days beforehand. It was ridiculous.
- The non-Cauld Ane half of the relationship also fell in love very quickly. By 40% through the book, the couple had declared their love, forever and ever, amen. Why was there still 60% of the book to go??
- Every time a couple had sex, the man went down on the woman. Without fail. They NEVER had sex without the man going down on the woman.
- The women always have multiple orgasms. I was exhausted just reading about it! It's not normal for a woman to have 4-6 orgasms in a row every time they have sex, which could be 2-3 times a day. I'm not saying it's not possible, and some women orgasm more easily than others, but to have it's unrealistic for every female character in the series to do so.
- And the men often came more than once, without a break or breather in between. The author claims to be married with kids, but I'd have put money on her being a virgin. Talk about unrealistic expectations! Perhaps the men's miraculous recovery time was due to being Cauld Ane, but it's not said. Both the women and men treat it as normal. Well, it's not. Normal males require recovery time between orgasms.
- Oh, and when you wake your partner up for sex at 4am, it is highly likely that you'll be able to go back to sleep afterwards, not 'Well, there's no way we can go back to sleep now'. Argh! It was just ridiculous. I ended up skipping all the sex scenes. They weren't sexy at all, they must made me roll my eyes every time with how unrealistic they were.
- Oh, and all the women were virgins, with intact hymens that broke during their first experience of intercourse, despite Pepper at least being a very active horse rider.

The more I read, the more frustrated I got with this series.

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Created Oct 29, 2019 at 6:31pm • Submit your own review...