Her Vicious Beasts

*Thank you The Nerd Fam for the ALC copies of Her Vicious Beasts and Her Feral Beasts *

If The Binds That Tie and Zodiac Academy had a baby, it would be Her Vicious Beasts by E.P. Bali.

Thank you to @thenerdfam for the opportunity to listen and review Her Vicious Beasts (#0.5) and Her Feral Beasts (#1) in this series. I’m obsessed. I even went to E.P.’s website to see when the next audio was coming out, and saw that book 2, Her Rabid Beasts, was already released and on sale. Naturally, I snagged it immediately and binged it.

Now, I have more audiobook time than eyeball reading time, so I’m a little sad the next two books are ebook/physical only for now. Book 5 releases in December, so there’s still hope I can catch up on books 3 and 4 before then.

What’s it about?

Honestly, they all live rent-free in my head now, so the lines between each book are a little blurred. Her Vicious Beasts is a novella that introduces us to our FMC and some of the MMCs. The series is a very slow-burn, why-choose romance. And when I say slow burn, I mean slow. This is a fated-mates story, but our FMC has strong reasons for hiding and staying away from her mates. When their paths cross, resisting them proves harder than she thought.

The twist? Her mates start off wanting to kill her, for reasons. Gradually, some give in to the mating bond, while others fight it tooth and nail. By the end of book 2, there are still one or two who haven’t accepted the bond.

This world is fascinating. Humans exist but don’t play a big role (yet). Instead, we have various shifter species, each with their own pack and King or Queen. There’s also a school for young adult shifters, part magic academy and part prison.

The FMC’s relationship with her father is full of tension and shady dealings, adding even more drama to the mix.

I don’t usually read much shifter romance or why-choose, but something about this series called to me, and I’m so glad I picked it up. It’s an immersive world, and I can’t wait to see how the remaining bonds and political dynamics unfold.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.25
Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

Blurb:

In a world full of Vicious Beasts, if you are not a predator, you are prey.

With my life going down in literal flames I ran from everything. From my father, from a forced marriage, from my mates.

Now, charged with a crime I didn’t commit, they’re all hunting me. And they’re all furious.

The dangerous deputy headmaster of Animus Academy manages to catch me and along with three of my five mates we’re taken back to the prison-school they use to teach feral beasts how to be civilized. Now I’m locked up with the very men I’ve been trying to avoid all my life.

No one can know who my mates are. No one can know who I really am. Because if they do, it’s lights out for me. I’ll be chained up and bred until I die. And I refuse to allow that to happen.