Book Review: The Beast’s Promise by Amylea Lyn

Title: The Beast’s Promise
Series: Outside the City, #2
Author: Amylea Lyn
Genre: Paranormal Romance, M/M Romance
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: review copy from author
Published: March 2012 by Silver Publishing

Owen Sanders has a lot on his mind. Ever since being kidnapped from the City, he's been trying to get back in order to rescue the twin baby brothers he had been forced to leave behind. The only thing stopping him is leaving behind his newly found mate, Maltok, and the feelings he has for the other man. Katrian Co-Alpha Chief, Maltok doesn't know why his human mate refuses to bond with him. When he finds out about Owen's forgotten family, Maltok is hurt that the smaller man would keep something so important from him. Maltok agrees to help retrieve the children on one condition; Owen must agree to mate him when they return to the Village. Owen reluctantly agrees. The two men begin their journey and, on the way, learn that some misunderstandings must be resolved before they could have hope for their future. And when the City retaliates against their actions, the two men must make a decision that could save them all... And possibly destroy the City forever.

Reviewed By: J9

In a Nutshell: Strong MM romance set in a compelling sci-fi world. Good second addition to the Outside the City series.

The Set Up: Owen grew up in the City where government controls its citizens. He’s kidnapped/rescued from the City by the heroes in book one and now lives in the shifter village. Owen can’t commit to Maltok, the Co-Alpha of the shifters, until he can rescue his twin brothers from the City’s grip. But the City isn’t letting go of Owen’s brothers or their citizens easily and they’re prepared to take the fight to the shifter village.

Why I Read this Book: I really liked book one in this series. The author writes strong MM romance and excels at interesting world building.

What I Liked: Owen and Mal’s romance starts in book one but hits its richness here. I love their commitment to each other and how important they are to each other, even in the face of grave obstacles. This is a pretty drama-free romance and as I read more MM romance I’m looking for that honesty between the leads. I also like that their romance isn’t purely sexual but first they get to know each other and learn what pushes each other buttons.

What I Also Liked: This author has created a compelling world in these two books. In the first one, readers are introduced to the oppressive City which controls and spies on its citizens. In this second book the City’s cracks are found and exploited. I loved this continued world building. The stark difference between City life and life Outside, where the shifter village is located, is nearly visual and I love that.

The secondary characters are also good and give this book and the series a community feel that I like in my paranormal reads. I also like that the couple from book one play big roles in this book and it was nice to revisit them since I enjoyed their romance so well.

What I Didn’t Like: I like paranormal series, I make no qualms about that. But what I don’t like is foreshadowing pairings. It feels like a cheap ploy to make me look forward to the next installments when in reality the fine world building and writing should do that. And even worse than this, I *detest* when children in books are the foreshadowed mates of adults in the book. It has an element of pedophilia to it and makes me want to discontinue reading.

IMO: Even with this strong dislike, I really enjoyed reading this romance and well written novel. I think other MM fans will enjoy this book but should start with book one to get the full experience of the stellar world building.

J9’s Rating: