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Moon Pack #1

Attracting Anthony

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Anthony is recovering from the death of his lover. What is he to do when the pack alpha wants to mark him as his own?

There is hot man/man action.

54 pages, Nook

First published January 29, 2009

140 people are currently reading
859 people want to read

About the author

Amber Kell

179 books1,278 followers
Amber Kell has made a career out of daydreaming. It has been a lifelong habit she practices diligently as shown by her complete lack of focus on anything not related to her fantasy world building.

When she told her husband what she wanted to do with her life he told her to go have fun.

During those seconds she isn't writing she remembers she has children who humor her with games of 'what if' and let her drag them to foreign lands to gather inspiration. Her youngest confided in her that he wants to write because he longs for a website and an author name—two things apparently necessary to be a proper writer.

Despite her husband's insistence she doesn't drink enough to be a true literary genius she continues to spin stories of people falling happily in love and staying that way.

She is thwarted during the day by a traffic jam of cats on the stairway and a puppy who insists on walks, but she bravely perseveres..

She also writes under the name Mikela Q. Chase

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 231 reviews
Profile Image for Vivian ♪(┌・。・)┌		.
628 reviews67 followers
August 21, 2013
***Spoiler Alert (and I don't even give a rat's ass)***


It's been a long long time since I've disliked a book so damn much. In fact, I can't remember the last time I did. Unlike many of my Goodreads friends (and to their utter bafflement), I, on occasion, love enjoying trashy reads. The kind of books that would be labelled a guilty pleasure if they weren't written so badly. In fact, I adore reading badly written PWP books. They make me laugh and make me smile, even as I write an utterly scathing review that ends with a contradictory line that reads 'I enjoyed it very much'. Anyway, the point is, I don't find myself disliking the entire experience of reading a book very often, even (and especially) the bad ones.

Which leaves a question that begs to be answered.

Why did I feel like buying an actual book copy just so I could puke on it, then defile it with a very gleeful smile?

Attracting Anthony is a novel based on Anthony Carrow, still trying to pull himself together after the devastating death of the love of his life. It started off uneventful but still decent, if rather cliche. And then it just went downhill from there.

You'll notice that this story is labelled under BDSM genre. It isn't. The BDSM element in this is a pathetic and stupid excuse to make the love interest an overbearing, childish, faux-Dom alpha whose attitude is apparently meant to make my panties drip. Meet Silver. (Yeah, that's his name. Was this meant to be a joke?) I am, I was, and I still will be in a million years, furious.

Predictably, this book fell under the umbrella of all those shifter novels who use the lovely 'mate bond' as an excuse to have insta-love. Usually I wouldn't care if I enjoyed the novel... But this is just one more thing to rant about. As per procedure, Silver (still cracking up) walked into a room, felt something was off, smelled something 'delicious' and yepp, you guessed it, love at first fucking sight. Honestly, it didn't work for Romeo and Juliet, I cannot fathom why anyone would think it would work for them. But oh wait! The author attempted to add some depth to his character with the line "I don't like pretty boys. They need too much attention. Give me a grateful average looking guy at any time." Yeah, because having a gay character make stereotypical, sweeping generalisations about others of the gay community endears him to me all the more. Of course.

And then, come cue, lovely Anthony rocks in with a glamour that dulls his appearance. Gee whiz, is it just me or was that a very scary coincidence? And what angers me is that after the author so nicely advocated the less attractive portion of the population, she then wasted that by making Anthony beautiful.

You know what would really amuse me if I wasn't so disgusted? I used to love stories about unassuming 'nerdy' girls who became miraculously beautiful once they took of their glasses. When I was 10. Makes me wonder because gee whiz once he took off his glamour...


Desire scented the air.

It took the alpha a moment to realize it poured off of all ten of the pack members sitting around the table, male and female, as they stared at the man behind me.



Are you fucking kidding me? Are you telling me that once he took off his glamour, everyone wanted to jump his pants. As if no one had personal preferences or at least self restraint. Fuck.

Oh no, but wait! I'm just getting this party started. I might as well start listing, or this will become entirely too long.

- To back track slightly, upon seeing Anthony's dead lover's name tattooed on his back, Silver's first thought was to kill the man for daring to touch Anthony. They hadn't even met each other yet. With no respect for what was obviously a very profound bond, no respect for boundaries and with this disgustingly psychotic sense of entitlement, that was his first thought.

"... this is Anthony. He's visiting here with a friend while trying to get over the death of his lover."

- I don't even know what to say. This behaviour is disgusting. You just aired this man's private sorrows and private business out on a mere introduction with the most pathetic and stupid justification I have seen in all my life. This is the first time he's tried to properly date after the death of his lover, and then that information was just casually given away to the first person available. That's just... Honestly, what the fuck?

- the first time they met, without yet even properly getting to know each other and confirming the other party's preference, our lovely Silver dictated what Anthony could or could not drink. Are you fucking serious? I don't give a fucking shit if this is BDSM novel and this is the author's idea of BDSM. There is no relationship here, there is no consent and certainly no fucking discussion, so there is no way of Silver knowing if this is something works well for Anthony, therefore is a blatant disregard for him.

- pet names. To be fair, that has never bugged, but every 'baby' and 'sweetheart' and 'honey' had me wanting to gouge my eyes.

I'm going to stop ranting about Silver here, but note that those quotes were found in the first 30%. So much stress in so little time, especially as this is a short novel...

I didn't hate Anthony, but something that annoyed me was that aside from being extraordinarily beautiful, he is: 1/4 God (grandson of Zeus), 1/4 fae and 1/2 witch. Oh and also an insanely rich and talented architect. I almost feel like my self esteem should be draining out of me, if only he was actually realistic. It reminds me of those days when I wrote love stories at the ripe age of 10 and made my heroes and heroines insanely amazeballs. It's funny that I find myself comparing this novel to fiction and concepts from my childhood.



I think I've ranted enough,

TL;DR In its 54 paged glory, I felt myself die a slow and painful death. This book is ridiculous and insulting, with a premise and various themes that can be likened to that of a child's idea of 'good fiction'. The BDSM element, which is one I would usually love, only served to anger me further with Silver's overbearing attitude (which I could easily see turn abusive in its restrictiveness). The characters were flat and fell short, and the secondary characters were even worse.

I apologise for the rant and blunt review, but I thought it'd be rather cathartic. Unfortunately, I think my blood pressure sky rocketed just looking through the book for quotes.

My advice: don't go for it. However, I also know I'm a bitch and things that don't click for me don't click so don't let this review stop you should you find this incredibly attractive.
Profile Image for Ryland.
76 reviews9 followers
April 18, 2021
dnf - too much telling, not enough showing.
Profile Image for Vero.
1,563 reviews9 followers
August 5, 2013
Yepp, another one.

To be fair, it was a freebie.

But a bad one.

Bad case of Insta-love, all were-wolf/mating cliches that you can think of and sub par writing.

Would I have liked it two years ago? I don't think so, but the fact that I read a lot of great m/m and fantastic werewolf/shifter/fantasy books doesn't help...
Profile Image for Kelly (Maybedog).
3,350 reviews237 followers
October 3, 2015
Standard shifter fare with a mild BDSM component. At parts funny, at parts dramatic, Mr. Alpha male is dom in the bedroom but the little sub is all control in reality. He's a smart ass even during sex.Not that different from any other shifter book, they just talk about and practice mild spanking and restraints in one or two scenes. In many ways it felt like fake D/s.

Here's a good quote about what Anthony's thinking when he says he's looking for a new Dom:
"What he really needed was someone who could support and guide him. Anthyonyt didn't need someone to tell hi nwhat to do every second of his day. He needed someone to make it safe for him to give up control and know he would be taken care of. Someone he could trust." And later: "I might like to be controled inside the bedroom, but I'm in charge of my own sex life." That part I like.

I have a number of issues with the story:

This was mega-instalove. There was the "I've found my mate" stuff but the "I love you" came after
Profile Image for Ami.
6,194 reviews489 followers
November 28, 2011
2.5 stars

RE-READ NEW VERSION ON 26/11/11

Comment on new version:
Funny, when I re-read the new version, I am not as impressed as I am the first time. Maybe because it has been a year since I read it. This one has a touch of D/s but never is fully explored. Also Anthony's background. I'm not into Anthony (the half witch/fae) and Silver (the Alpha werewolf) as much as I am prior to this and find their chemistry lacking. ALTHOUGH, I remember I like Anthony in later stories. Let's see if it's still true when I read the other re-releases.

OLD VERSION WAS READ ON 16/07/10
Profile Image for Trix.
1,351 reviews114 followers
January 4, 2011
This was like a mixed up story. Too many interesting threads mingled to produce a short story, with no real focus on anything concrete. [spoiler ahead]Just a jumble of ideas: light Dominance/Submission, various supernatural beings (werewolves, vampires, fae, witches) and amongst these, the fear of getting involved in a serious relationship. I mostly felt distracted rather than attracted by the myriad or 'details' to the story.[end spoiler]

In my subjective point of view, it only deserves a 2 star rating.
Profile Image for Macky.
2,019 reviews230 followers
July 8, 2013
2.5*
To be fair I got this as a free download from Amazon and its what I class as an ok lightweight read but it didn't rock my world. A bit of D/s and some Alpha posturing. A quick sexy read that filled a corner but it won't stay with me long.
Profile Image for Aղցela W..
4,432 reviews315 followers
June 3, 2021
This was a reread for me I love this series. This is the first book in the "Moon Pack" series. Anthony Carrow never thought that he would find love again after his lover and master died of a heart attack 3 years ago. When he goes to a shifter club with his friend Steven he meets Silver Moon the owner of the club. Silver is the pack Alpha of the Moon Pack and he can't believe that he has found his mate. After hooking up the next morning the pack gets a look at Anthony and his scent turns out Anthony used some kind of spell to tone down his pretty and Silver is shocked. These two don't mate right away Anthony has some work to do and in a meeting he learns that Silver has assigned some bodyguards to him. Anthony is not human like Silver thought he is the grandson of the God Zeus he is also part fae and forest witch. I love reading this series and have decided to reread it.
Profile Image for Jesslan Rose.
1,140 reviews50 followers
June 12, 2021
Attracting Anthony
By Amber Kell

Anthony's lover passed away 2 years ago. Since then he hasn't been ready to think of starting any new relationships. When his friend Stephen drags him to a new shifter club he meets a werewolf named Silver setting off a new path in his life.

This was a shorter book. It was well-written. I liked all the characters and the storyline.
Profile Image for Jane (PS).
2,751 reviews99 followers
July 16, 2013
Some hot sex/domination, but the storyline is a bit incomplete and confusing. I was interested to see how Kell would work some of the angles presented, but they were pretty much left out there, unresolved and almost unnoticed. As a freebie, I guess this is a teaser for the next book in the series, but I'm not sure I'm engaged enough to see how it will develop.
Profile Image for Kati.
2,252 reviews66 followers
January 27, 2011
This is a PWP and so mushy it's ridiculous. Silver, the alpha of the pack, calls Tony, his half-human mate, his "sweet baby", "honey", "sweet, sweet boy", "angel", "sweetness"... There's purple prose and then there's this, seriously. I almost laughed out loud. It reads like a really bad fanfic.
Profile Image for Elisa Rolle.
Author 109 books236 followers
Read
May 29, 2009
All right, first of all, this is a new author and a new publisher for me, so my feelings on this short story have to take it in account: I believe this is quite an "experiment" for the publisher, like for me it was to buy these book. Of the author, I have the idea that she probably comes from a paranormal romance reader and so has pretty clear in mind the romance rule of the Alpha male paired with an apparently weaker mate.

Anthony is a young witch that is mourning his lost lover; after three years his best friend pushes him in the dating pool and the very first night he is spotted by Silver Moon (mmm, don't know if I like very much the name for this hero, it sounds a bit too much gentle to me). Silver is a strong Alpha werewolf who happens to be the owner of a nightclub for paranormal people. He is not searching a mate since he knows that, when his mate will be around, he will smell him. And when he catches the scent of Anthony, there is no doubt for him that he has found his mate. Anthony has casted a spell on himself to dull his looks, he said to not overshadow his friend, who is also searching for a mate, but I believe the real reason is that he didn't want to be at the center of attention. But the spell did nothing for Silver, since he is not interested in how Anthony looks, but only in his wonderful scent.

Anthony at first plays the role of the blushing virgin (even if he is not virgin at all) and then that of a teaser, but for it's only a game, since it's obvious that he likes Silver and he likes also that Silver is a man of power; Anthony is drawn to Silver both for sex but also for his need to be dominated. And he likes to top from the bottom, and Silver is alpha enough to let him play.

There is a lot of "baby, I'm your man and you know it" philosophy in this short story; for sure it's a litght and funny romp, without much aspiration to be more. There are some point that I would like to see developed, as for example Anthony's family and their pursuing of finding the right mate for their son... what will they think of Silver? But this is a short story and a first in a series, so maybe I will discover something more in the following books.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001RDCJ9O/?...
Profile Image for ᴥ Irena ᴥ.
1,654 reviews242 followers
August 18, 2016
1.5

If this story weren’t crammed in one week, it might be a bit better. Then you’d have a proper relationship development even with all the over the top possessiveness. And its length cannot justify anything since there are some stories that are even shorter but have better grasp on relationships.

Anthony Carrow,  still in mourning over his lover's death, agrees to accompany his friend to a BDSM club. I haven’t got a clue why one of the genres listed is BDSM. Unless entering a club automatically lists it as one, there is no reason for this to be labeled like that. There is a spanking scene and the use of words submissive and master though. A reminder: Anthony is not human and he is a famous architect.

I love shifter stories, but even the soul mate theme (which still hasn’t lost its appeal for me) couldn’t save this one. The first thing Silver, the Alpha, does after meeting Anthony and getting him all for himself, is changing his order because he doesn’t want him drunk. He just met him! Then he says this: ‘You’ve been too long without a master, my sweet. You keep trying to think for yourself.’ (check the reminder in the second paragraph) I saw red after reading this one. I love shifter stories, I don’t mind soul mate theme, I even like possessiveness in a character when it is incorporated in the story in a believable way.

The story doesn't have a bad beginning, but as soon as Silver and Anthony meet it goes south. The problem is that none of the actions are believable and some are infuriating (like the one where some weres and a vampire are talking about Anthony as if he isn’t present - ‘Why is he allowed out on his own?’ - again: check the reminder in the second paragraph).
Anyway, I'll probably read the next one. Hopefully it will be better.
Profile Image for Sandra.
4,121 reviews13 followers
December 3, 2013
I'm not really sure why all the bad reviews. This isn't unusual as a shifter book; meaning that the mate is kind of a possessive ass, things move crazy fast, and the sex is all hot and dominating. Those are kind of also the reasons I love shifter books! Men are possessive assholes all the time in romance, but with shifters it seems justified and more acceptable since there is a biological explanation. Sure, it would have been nice if this was a full length and we had more than two encounters over the course of one week for our guys to get together.

So, the negatives in this were:
1) about 50,000 too many "baby"s from Silver
2) Anthony's awesome parentage/powers that go completely undeveloped
3) Not much personality from Silver
4) Obviously, a longer length so things didn't' have to be crammed into such a short time frame.

But it is what it is. I enjoyed it. On to read their free short story in the Christmas Delights anthology!
Profile Image for Lily.
3,901 reviews48 followers
May 6, 2010
It's been three years since the death of Anthony's lover and he's finally ready to think about someone new. So he tamps down his gorgeous looks with magic and accompanies his BF to the best supernatural bar in town. Silver, pack Alpha and owner of the bar, takes one sniff of Tony and knows they are mates. Now he just has to convince Tony and then deal with the real man behind the glamor.

This was a cute shifter story. Silver is the stereotypical big bad Alpha. Tall and strong, handsome and domineering. Tony is gorgeous, with the memory of his dead lover still fresh in his heart and an independent streak to him. I liked the interaction between the men, the sex is hot and despite some bad editing the book kept me interested til the end. Another thing I liked was that there was a fair bit of humor in the book.

This is the first book in the series and was a quick, fun read.
Profile Image for Absynthe.
432 reviews5 followers
March 6, 2011
I read the new version. It was good but kind of unsatisfying. There's a good plot in this book and I like the characters. But I feel that this book would have been better served if it were twice the size, with the same plot.

There are scenes that just beg for more detail. There's more potential in this book than the author uses. Which is a shame, because the plot and characters really are quite interesting.
Profile Image for Christy.
4,262 reviews124 followers
November 12, 2013
This was an interesting short story to begin a new series. It was fun to get some of the basics of the author's world building out of the way, but I honestly felt that perhaps the characters and the story line could have been fleshed out. I will read the next story to see if there is a pattern developing as this could all be part of the author's plan.
Anthony and Silver were pretty hot together although I would have loved getting more of them.
Profile Image for Grace.
180 reviews
December 29, 2014
A painful waste of time, it is only 54 pages but felt like a thousand. Badly written, confused, contrived and just plain irritating. I don't like leaving bad reviews but this really had no redeeming features. The fact that the alpha werewolf's name is Silver Moon should have sent me running. I could try to explain the plot but there wasn't much of one, bereaved witch/demi god finds new love with alpha werewolf, throw in a pile of clichés and excruciating dialogue and that is it.
Profile Image for ella ☆ any pronouns.
328 reviews72 followers
December 20, 2018
I couldn't focus on what was happening during this at ALL. It felt so scrambled and rushed, none of was able to settle with me. I wasn't able to comprehend was I was reading a solid 80% of the time. I definitely WON'T waste my time writing a full review and I definitely WON'T waste my time reading the other 17 short stories in this series with the way this one went over, that's for sure
Profile Image for Ryoma Gartre.
266 reviews17 followers
August 22, 2011
It's the pilot book for the whole series, a lot of characters are being introduced and stuff, the main issue is That silver for me was a little OOC if you take in consideration the rest of the books, furthermore he and Anthony are in a supposedly Dom/sub relationship that is bed only, thus the collar thing is a little too much, but I know zero to nothing about BDSM lifestyle so don't mind me.
Profile Image for Cole Riann.
1,078 reviews250 followers
September 5, 2011
2.5 stars.

Not terrible, or anything, just really short and very simplistic. Still, when in the mood these can hit the spot. I would have enjoyed more on Anthony's Wizard background, though.
Profile Image for k reads.
924 reviews23 followers
January 3, 2014
Free short story that contains many cliches of the genre.
But if you can ignore the cliches, its not a bad way to kill a little time.
Profile Image for Onlysuccube.
178 reviews
May 30, 2023
2.5🌟

Cette nouvelle m aura appris quelque chose de très intéressant à mon sujet.
Les histoires courtes ne sont pas pour moi 😅

J aime quand l histoire se met en place, que le passé des protagonistes est abordé, expliqué dans les grandes lignes ou non..
J aime que l auteur nous fasse comprendre son projet, son histoire, le pourquoi du comment.

Le vif du sujet au bout de 4 pages.. Hm hm nope.

Sinon l histoire de ce 1er extrait de la meute de la lune serait prometteur et intéressant ( si seulement il était plus détaillé).
Découvrir Anthony m aurait beaucoup plus ( au vu de sa particularité) mais...

Sinon,
Loups garou, vampires, sorciers, elf et autres shifters sont au centre du thème et
Pour les adeptes des kink, ici on effleure le BDSM soft.


Nan c est tout
Profile Image for Keith.
2,071 reviews6 followers
May 6, 2020
Erotica, not romance. A bit of Dom/sub and the rest just sex. There is a thinly outlined story, but no plot other than “Silver gets a mate.”
Profile Image for Mackenzie.
147 reviews15 followers
November 28, 2011
I don't usually review these things in Goodreads because I have trouble sparing time to write one for such a short story. (I've read other Amber Kell stories but I've never reviewed them before for this very reason. Plus, with these books, there's usually more sexy times than plot or character development so I wouldn't know what to say about them anyway.) Despite the huge "guilty pleasure" nature of the story, however, I find myself wanting to review this series after all.

What makes this series special, I guess, is the fact that I literally devoured them - all nine existing e-books in the series - in 2 days. I'm generally not a huge fan of series at all (I don't have the patience to follow more than 7 volumes of anything) so the fact that I remain interested after 9 short stories speaks a lot of the series' appeal to me.

This series opener, Attracting Anthony, is pretty straightforward. Generic, even, because it follows the "boy!shifter meets boy!fae and they fall in love at first sight/scent and become soul mates". There's obligatory sex, a teensy weensy bit of conflict and... the end. They live happily ever after!

...except they didn't. Because boy!fae Anthony is apparently a major badass demi-god who will fit right in with the Percy Jackson crowd and probably has it even tougher than the Son of Poseidon/Neptune. He hates being controlled and coddled so although his mate, Silver, the big bad wolf shifter, wants nothing but to keep him chained and locked, he still wants to be free to do things his way. This becomes a point of contention for the couple and I find myself snickering in utter delight at the conflict between them.

Reading the first installment of the series, you can't possibly guess that things will take a nasty turn later on... because instead of leaving it at "happily ever after", the entire series becomes a background for Anthony and Silver's development as characters and an established couple. This is why I remain interested because it's not every day I get to a love story doused with supernatural elements (plus lots and lots of shagging) that is not completely muddled with angst.

That, or I'm in a bad state of mind that I seriously need distraction. This series, especially the first installment, is indeed a mighty fine distraction!
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