#murphy lawless

[mizkit]

Murphy Lawless Shifter Universe - reading order

I was basically just doing this for somebody and decided that it would be fun to actually do it. 😀 As those of you who are reading them have presumably figured out by now, all of my shifter romances are in the same universe, so if for some reason you were moved to read the entire universe in order, this is how it currently stands (all links are Amazon affiliate!). 🙂 RAVEN HEART (Alaska Totem…

Murphy Lawless Shifter Universe - reading order

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Oops, They Woke Up Shifters

OMG it finally happened!!! Sapphic shifters!!! I was SO excited for this book from the time the blurb dropped, because I have been going "gay shifters?" since about the third or fourth shifter romance I picked up. Let's talk A Partridge in a Bear Tree.

This is the second book in a trilogy, so this is your SPOILER WARNING.

Ashley and Gwen are an absolutely adorable couple. Their meet cute is classic disaster lesbians in a bar in the best possible way, and then they get to work out communicating. And once they finally get THAT sorted out, Gwen discovers that she's been suppressing the fact that she's a shifter from very early childhood!

That scene in particular was really funny, because Ashley went to tell her fated mate that she's a bear, and a little voice pops up in Gwen's head saying, "I can do that," and the next thing Gwen knows, she's a BIRD. A partridge, to be precise. And then the partridge realizes that it can get BIG. Like, really big. It's adorable. It's dumb as a box of rocks, but we love that little partridge.

The other thing that I really adore about this book is that it ties together the Renaissance Shifter trilogy with the Gladiator Shifters quintet and the Virtue Shifters books. It's a shared shifter universe!!! And we not only get Maggie and Conri in this book, we also get a cameo from Joash. Honestly that was just fun for me, as someone who has inhaled all of Murphy Lawless's (and Lawless as Zoe Chant's) shifter books.

Overall, the Renaissance Shifter books are delightful, and I have yet to not have just a metric ton of fun with them. Cannot recommend these highly enough. Especially if you also want to stick it to the attempts to ban romance novels that are starting to pop up in the US...

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Alaskan Shifter Romance

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a person who is raised in Alaska must eventually develop either a deep soft spot or deep hatred for Alaskana in all its forms. I was raised in Alaska and I'm literally writing a blog post about how much I adore these Alaska-themed paranormal shifter romances, so you do the math on that one while I talk the Alaskan Totem Shifters books.

There are probably spoilers below the break, so just a heads up!

For those of you who follow this blog pretty closely, this series is set in the same universe as the Gladiator Shifter books, but without the gladiatorial backstory and localized to small-town Alaska. The vibes are on point, which is only to be expected since Murphy Lawless lived in Alaska for a while. (True Story: I once ran into her at a Barnes and Noble on a random day when I was buying Urban Shama, and she was absolutely lovely and signed my book. I was a speechless mess.) These books scratched an itch for home that pops up for me every once in a while; there really and truly is nowhere quite like Alaska on this earth.

Raven Heart follows Elena Peratrovitch as she works with her community, the government, and a bunch of billionaires to maintain conservation of the land versus exploitation and developement. This is somewhat complicated by small town dynamics, Alaska small town dynamics, and Richard freaking Yale, billionare Raven Shifter. Elena and Richard are basically fated mates, although I actually don't think the book uses that term.

Beyond the romance and the Alaska small-town vibes, the book also has a legitimately interesting contrast between Richard and his fellow shifter (albeit grizzly bear, not raven) and billionaire developer Derek Crown. Richard is all about sustainable, conservationist development, whereas Crown is all "drill, baby, drill" up in here, and he is very much not above kidnapping and murdering the opposition to get it done.

I was not expecting a shifter battle at the end of the book, but I was absolutely not mad about it either.

Overall, Raven Heart's 2016 publication date (four years before Gladiator Bear and a whopping seven years before Polar Heart) means that it doesn't slot terribly neatly into the shifterverse that Lawless would develop later, but it's not so far off from it that it's not clearly related, and Polar Heart is a really excellent bridge between the Gladiator Shifters and Raven Heart, so everything has a nice continuity and shared shifterverse.

Polar Heart follows Davinda Jackson (Elena's college bestie) and Isiah Moses during Shkalnik's mayoral election. Davinda is a wildlife photographer, which fully endears her to the shifter community when she offers to do portraits of them AND their shifted forms in what is one of the sweetest, most community-driven scenes I have ever read in any book ever, end of sentence. Where Elena and Richard felt very isolated, Davinda and Isiah are deeply embedded in the shifter and Shkalnik communities in a way that felt so Alaska. So honestly, this book is cozy in a way that Raven Heart wasn't, and actually manages to have a cozier community focus than the Gladiator Shifter books, which are all about the shifter worlds and communities.

On top of that, if Garius Beren (of Gladiator Bear fame) was the most bear a person could be, Isaiah is EVEN MORE BEAR. He is literally a giant polar teddy bear of a man, and his house also looks like a polar bear, which is just adorable. It even has EARS.

In addition to the sheer cozy adorableness, this book ends on just THE most epic takedown of a literal Outsider Karen politician who is trying to expose shifters to the world. This takedown is epic, utterly gratifying, and quite frankly the best thing I've read in a WHILE.

Overall, I very much hope we see more entries in the Alaska Totem Shifters series because both these books have been incredible in their own ways, and I would happily read more.

[checkoutmybookshelf]

You Have My Attention: Gladiator Shifters's First Lines

When the world is quite literally on fire and everything sucks, sometimes a girl wants nothing more than a bunch of very buff descendents of gladiators who can shift into predators to waltz in and get romantic. Murphy Lawless's Gladiator Shifters series absolutely scratched that itch, and were an absolute delight along the way. But how does each book catch a reader? That's what we're here to find out!

"Dr. Anna Liffey had been up unexplored rivers and down dormant volcanoes, but she'd honestly never been anywhere like the gala hall where the people who funded her work got together."

-- Gladiator Bear

"Shannon Kavanaugh's hip hurt, and probably always would. That's what the doctors had told her, anyway, along with the news that she'd never be able to compete at international levels again."

-- Gladiator Cheetah

"Susan Connolly had known about shapeshifters forever. Practically, forever, anyway. Since before her son was born, anyway."

-- Gladiator Hawk

"The smell of sweat and beer mingled with the roar of laughter and cheers from the stadium seating. There were thousands--tens of thousands--of people crowded into the seats."

-- Gladiator Wolf

"Elissa's phone rang with a number she didn't know, and like an idiot, she answered it."

-- Gladiator Tiger

[mizkit]

Launch Day: POLAR HEART

new blog post: Launch Day: POLAR HEART

Today POLAR HEART, very long-awaited sequel to my first ever paranormal romance, is finally available! This funny little bit is the moment polar bear shifter Isaiah realizes he *could* have had a Just One Bed scenario with his fated mate Davinda… Wildlife photographer Davinda Jackson thinks she’s seen everything… until the polar bear she’s taking pictures of turns into a man right in front of…

View On WordPress

[checkoutmybookshelf]

A Literal Teddy Bear of a Man and the Coogan Law

Welcome to the small Colorado town of Renaissance! Like Virtue, Renaissance is a Shifter Town. It also ends up on the map when Bill Torben hires the wrong musician for his brewpub's Octoberfest Jazz Festival. In fairness to him, the difference between Gwendolyn Booker and Gwendolyn Brooker is so slight that a mistake is practically inevitable. And once you throw fated mates into the mix, the confusion is practically mandated. Let's talk Octobearfest!

Bill and Gwen's dynamics are so sweet. He is on the cusp of burnout from running his family's pub and brewery, and she is about to take her indie rock band mainstream and dig up a toooooooooooon of childhood trauma from being her universe's version of a Disney child star whose father stole all her money and absolutely shattered her choices and autonomy.

For Gwen, Bill is safety. He had practically no idea who she had been as a child, and he is a BIG BEAR of a man who has cultivated the skill of simultaneously being an overwhelming presence and invisible. So when he is just there with Gwen and her band as they're glad-handing with fans, she has the feeling of safety to keep going, and to step into the spotlight again.

For Bill, Gwen is basically a competence tornado who slots into his business, life, and family with exactly zero friction. She helps him rebrand the pub practically overnight and gives him the confidence to come clean to his parents about wanting to be a brewmaster, not a pub owner--which seems like it's a pretty minimal distinction but ACTUALLY it's two extremely different career paths. So getting that clarity and some adventure in Bill's life was wonderful.

My favorite moment for Gwen though? When her dad shows back up and she just DECKS him. Bill is there so Gwen feels safe, but she's the one who actually gets to tell him now and "How fucking dare you." It was a fabulous moment, and then she has the emotional support from the ENTIRE Torben family, which is just lovely to see.

I also need to just shout out Penny, because girl is so much ingenuity and competence porn that she could 100% be a guest star on Leverage or Leverage: Redemption. I would watch Penny and Hardison or Breanna tech nerd out for DAYS. I also get some low-key Lane Kim vibes from Penny, in terms of being a drummer and knowing how to get things DONE. Penny has more overt, extroverted confidence than Lane, but honestly that and how purely supportive of Gwen she is make her amazing. Can we have Penny find her fated mate in Renaissance too? Because that would be AWESOME. For context, Bill even says of Penny:

She was incredibly fierce and he wouldn't have been surprised to get a shifter scent off her, but she seemed to just be a really strong-willed person. It was almost too bad. She'd make a great predator shifter.

I WOULD LIKE HER TO ACTUALLY BE A SHIFTER, PLEASE!!!

Overall, this is a fabulous start to a new shifter series, and I am so, so excited to see how Renaissance develops and grows as a shifter town.

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Caaaaaaaaaaaaan... Anybodyyyyyyyyyy...

Fiiiiiiiiiind me...

Ok, I literally adore Somebunny to Love so much. The romance is fluffy and delightful. The rabbit puns are ON POINT. The writing is fabulous. Virtue as a shifter sanctuary is awesome, quirky, and full of heart.

Hey, here is your SPOILER WARNING!

The romance is pretty straightforward and quick (fated mates keeps things from being complicated or confusing). Emmy and Karl are in love at first sight--which has to be weird for Karl, because Emmy is in her bunny form when they meet. But what I adore about this Virtue Shifters book is how well it blends heart and humor. The humor is evident in my first favorite quote from the book:

This poor, poor man is about to get it on with the girl of his dreams and the next thing he knows, he has been aggressively kicked in the face by a giant rabbit who is absolutely terrified. It's perfect, I wouldn't change a thing.

The heart, though? Comes from my favorite line in the book, which is from Emmy's rabbit:

Rabbits in general--and Emmy's in particular--are anxious little things. And it's SO EASY to fall into the trap of being brave for someone ELSE. It's almost expected of people, and it displaces the worth of being brave for yourself. What I love here is that Emmy's rabbit is brave for Emmy, and that's the most literalized being brave for your own sake that I've ever seen. It's really lovely, and I like the little bit of insight into the relationship between a shifter and their animals. It was a really lovely little moment, and I love that Emmy gets to be brave for herself with support from Karl.

Overall, this book is adorable, soft, fluffy, and made me laugh out loud multiple times. Seriously, the rabbit puns are absolutely out of this world, and it's amazing how fast they turn into innuendos.

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Welcome to Virtue

So I cannot sing the praises of Murphy Lawless (in this case writing as Zoe Chant) as an author enough. I thoroughly enjoyed the Gladiator Shifters books, but coming back to the beginning of the Virtue Shifters series, I was absolutely delighted. Why? The writing, for one, but for this book specifically? The main character is a mid-30s single mother with a four year old. I was PSYCHED to have an FMC who wasn't 20 with a mint-condition uterus. (See, Miss America Pageant??? Women who are older and who have kids are AWESOME and have VALUE.) As a 30-something myself who has been rapidly noticing her protagonists seem younger by the year, this was a breath of fresh air and a delightful change.

And ngl, hot late-30s guy with washboard abs who the four year old trusts and loves? Excuse me while I fangirl squee over how awesome this is. Let's talk Timber Wolf.

Mabs and Noah Brannigan escape Noah's deadbeat, dickhead sperm donor to live in an inherited heritage home in Virtue--an old, New England shifter town. Unfortunately, the home is in desperate need of restoration and Mabs is basically broke and trying to DIY something that really and truly needs a professional while wrangling an almost supernaturally active four year old.

Thats about when Jake Rowly rocks back into town nursing a broken heart and kickass carpentry skills. He and Mabs are aggressively set up by a mutual friend, and the pair work together to restore the house and make it safe for Mabs and Noah to live in.

When Mabs's ex shows up looking to either take her back or take Noah away from her, Jake is standing firmly behind Mabs, letting her find the confidence that her gaslighting dickhead of an ex did his best to quash, and protecting Noah. And as a fun side effect of all of this, they manage to uncover a murderous realtor and a literal fortune stuffed inside an old mattress that neatly solves Mabs's financial troubles.

Groundbreaking? Not particularly. Fun? Absolutely. Warm and cozy? You bet! If ever you want a snuggly romance that isn't a couple of single twenty-somethings, this is a great one to start with. I particularly love that despite the genre, Mabs is over here rebuilding her own confidence with support, rather than having Jake's existence just magic it back. Their conversations about what Mabs does and does not want Jake to do are amazing and really sweet. Not to mention the situational comedy of trying to fall in love while keeping things G-rated for the rambunctious child in the house that this book does beautifully.

I rarely have a lot to say about the Virtue Shifter books, but thats more because they're adorable and snuggly and I adore them than anything else. So if you're looking for a cozy shifter romance, you cannot go wrong by picking up this series.