Why Does The Barrens Have Mixed Reviews?

Abby Barns is about to turn eighteen and face the Capitol, where every heir must meet to try and find their fated mate. But Abby isn’t ready to bind herself to a mate she hasn’t even met, not when she’s never felt her wolf stir since she was twelve and not when her family’s secrets keep gnawing at her like a hidden ache. Her sister Melody, once lively and fierce, is presumed dead behind a veil of illness that strikes their clan with increasing ferocity. Abby’s father, Graham, clings to a truth he refuses to admit: Melody’s condition might be more than misfortune. It might be poison. With two friends who are all sunshine and all spark, Abby steps into a city of glittering banners and looming danger, where a prince is guardian to the realm but aloof to the heart. Adrian, the silent, powerful protector with the deepest green eyes, seems to deny Abby’s presence even as her own pulse answers to his almost unspoken call. As old wounds surface, a rogue threat grows louder, and the mystery of Melody’s poisoning unravels a legacy that could redefine who Abby is and who she is fated to become. As Abby discovers the truth about wolf’s bane coursing through her veins, she must decide whether trust is a risk worth taking or a trap designed to hold her forever. In a world where love is both weapon and salvation, Abby’s journey from uncertainty to a life altering bond will test family loyalties, awaken a dormant wolf, and force her to choose between a dangerous future and a love she never expected.

Kellan Reed - I was born Runebound—measured, studied, trained to lead. My pack believes order is strength, that tradition is law. But law doesn’t hold when blood runs in the dirt. The Interregnum is here, and every whispered betrayal at Obscura smells of war. I thought I knew who I was supposed to be: heir, alpha, scholar. Then Ronan Draxmere walked onto campus, all sharp teeth and wild fury. Bloodpine. My opposite. My enemy. And yet, every time our eyes lock, I feel the pull of something I can’t name. Something dangerous. Something I might not survive resisting. Ronan’s Draxmere - Bloodpine wolves don’t play nice. We hunt. We take. We survive. That’s what my father drilled into me, and it’s why he sent me here: to prove strength where others crumble. But Obscura isn’t the battleground I expected. The dragon burns brighter than the legends, the heirs bleed unity, and Kellan Reed—the Runebound golden boy—looks at me like he wants to tear me apart and hold me together in the same breath. I should hate him. I do hate him. But my wolf doesn’t. And if the Interregnum comes for this place, they’ll find out just how dangerous a Bloodpine wolf can be when he’s fighting for something he swore he’d never want.

They called her barren. Her husband believed it. His mother engineered it. And for four years, Bella Cole lived inside that lie — shrinking herself, surrendering her career, swallowing her grief in a marriage that was slowly erasing her. Then came the dinner party. The added chair. The pregnant maid with her hand on her stomach and victory in her eyes. And something in Bella went very, very quiet — and very, very awake. Because the math didn't add up. The diagnosis didn't make sense. And the man who couldn't keep his hands off the help? He couldn't have fathered that child if he tried. Literally. Now Bella isn't grieving. She's building. Piece by piece, witness by witness, document by document — she is assembling the truth that was stolen from her. And when it finally comes apart, it won't just cost Ethan Cole his heir. It will cost them everything. She was never the problem. She was always the answer. And she is only just beginning.

Three years of blame, one day of freedom and a lifetime of revenge. Elena Valdris was called barren. For three years, her billionaire husband Jack and his cruel family made her believe that her inability to conceive made her worthless. After a bitter divorce and a single reckless night with a stranger who awakens the fire inside her, Elena vanished. Years later, she returns with a new name, wealthy, and twin children whose father remains a mystery. She is no longer the discarded wife. She is power itself. "Let's find a new daddy for mummy," One of her twin sons said when Jack was on his knees, begging. "That's our daddy." The other twin points across the room, to the most feared billionaire in the world, who freezes the moment his eyes lock on Elena. "We meet again, my Sunray."

“You’re useless to me, Carmen. A barren Luna is no Luna at all.” Those were the last words Alpha Silas Knowles spat at his wife before he orchestrated the car accident that took her life. He wanted her dead so he could marry her sister, Chloe, and finally claim the heir he believed Carmen could never give him. What Silas didn’t know was that Carmen was already six months pregnant with a miracle child. What he didn’t know was that he was the sterile one, and the child Chloe carried was not his. When the Moon Goddess grants Carmen a second chance, she wakes up three months before her murder. But the woman who returns isn't the submissive, fat wife Silas used to mock. She is cold, calculating, and ready for war. While Silas is busy with his mistress, Carmen is busy siphoning his millions, dismantling his pack’s assets, and planning her disappearance. To survive, she must strike a deal with the Alpja of Nightshade, Cayden Viner. Cayden is a lethal Alpha and Silas’s most feared rival who has never let a woman close—until he meets the transformed Carmen. He’s suspicious of her motives, but he’s captivated by the fire in her eyes and the secrets she’s hiding. As Silas’s empire begins to crumble, he realizes too late that he threw away a Queen for a parasite. He wants Carmen back. He wants his heir. But Carmen is no longer a broken woman. She has a new King, a new empire, and a revenge that is only just beginning.

For years, the witches and vampires of Shadowbrooke co-existed secretly, without much incident. Until one winter evening in 2002. Luca Delacroix was on a hunting trip when the monthly court hosted by his clan turned disastrous. What began as a normal night for the residents of the sleepy town ended horribly when fledgelings in blood-lust took Shadowbrooke under siege. It took a small coven of witches, a powerful spell, the Chaos Star and a virgin's blood to end the terror. But in the aftermath, Julian Delacroix, Luca's brother, along with several of their clan members, were eternally bound to the manor's cellar, forsaken to wither and perish from thirst. It's 2022, and Luca's returned to Shadowbrooke after two decades. His sudden reappearance threatens to destabilise the peaceful town again. He'll stop at nothing to get his brother out, and the Youngblood Coven will not hesitate to destroy him. While the witches scramble to get the missing piece of the Star of Chaos, the rune they once used against Luca's clan, he has to fight hard to stay one step ahead of them. But, his plans go awry when he meets and falls in love with Cadence Youngblood, the same woman responsible for his brother's infernal prison. Cadence is everything he shouldn't want, but for her, Luca is willing to take the backlash from his clan and risk her coven's wrath. © 2022 Val Sims. All rights reserved. No part of this novel may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author and publishers.