Summary
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GENRE
TROPES
AO3 TAGS
Kera Watson never expected to face death behind a Los Angeles coffee shop. Not after surviving two tours lugging an M16 around the Middle East. If it wasn’t for her hot Viking customer showing up too late to help, nobody would even see her die.
In uncountable years of service to the Allfather Odin, Ludvig “Vig” Rundstrom has never seen anyone kick ass with quite as much style as Kera. He knows one way to save her life–but she might not like it. Signing up with the Crows will get Kera a new set of battle buddies: cackling, gossiping, squabbling, party-hearty women. With wings. So not the Marines.
But Vig can’t give up on someone as special as Kera. With a storm of oh-crap magic speeding straight for L.A., survival will depend on combining their strengths: Kera’s discipline, Vig’s loyalty… and the Crows’ sheer love of battle. Boy, are they in trouble.
Hot Takes
What We Liked
Jems
The thing about me is that I love a big boy, and The Unleashing had one in all his Viking glory. The size difference between Kera and Vig was absolutely delicious 😋 But honestly, my favorite part of the whole book was the pit bull representation—Laurenston nailed showing how pit bulls are unfairly perceived as dangerous when they’re actually some of the sweetest, most loyal dogs out there (can you tell I own 2 pitties?). The story didn’t just use the dogs as background either: Kera finding her purpose by connecting veterans with rescue dogs to help them cope with PTSD and transition back to civilian life was an satisfying angle in the story.
What We Didn’t Like
Apers
This kind of main character is exactly the reason I quit reading cozy mystery: judgemental while thinking they’re entirely above reproach. The first 37% of the book (at least, because that’s when I’m writing this) Kera spends all her time complaining about the way the Crows do or don’t do things, but especially the way they don’t seem to like her and I’m sat here like have you tried to even talk to one of them a single time? The other more understandable thing I dislike about this book is the first-in-a-series of it all. We are spending very little time with the primary characters because we have to set up the world, the lore, and future books so it feels like an animatronic ride whizzing you past vignettes that introduce characters you should feel something about, but all I feel is bored.
I made it to 53% and I stand by what I said and I’m DNF’ing.
Review
Jems
Much like Deal with the Devil by Kit Rocha, The Unleashing was a book I finished but didn’t enjoy. The writing style, constant POV shifts, and overall tone gave major 2000s YA vibes in a way that made it hard to connect with the characters, who mostly felt like exaggerated archetypes instead of real people. The “badass girlboss” energy got exhausting fast, especially with Kera constantly reminding everyone (and the reader) that she’s a former Marine. For a group that’s supposed to be a sisterhood, the Crows didn’t even seem to like each other all that much, which made the found family aspect fall flat. And while this was marketed as a paranormal romance, it felt way more like an urban fantasy with a romance subplot—the relationship between Kera and Vig was pure instalove with no real emotional growth or depth.
Apers
I made it to 53% which was tough because nothing happens in the first entire half of the book, but I knew Jems already did the star review so I was like ok ok I can do this and let me tell you… it wasn’t even worth it. Even if Jems tells me there’s another spicy scene, the first one was over and done so quick it will stay in the three peps rating. There was no foreplay, almost no description, and the chapter prior to the spicy chapter was literally 3x as long and the one right after jumps to a character who isn’t part of the main romance.
