I was a little lost by having picked up the story in the fourth book but quickly caught up to what was going on. Also, there were a lot of background characters that were involved in the plot that were featured and introduced in the previous books. So basically, I would have enjoyed it more if I had read the previous books. So now, since the story was so good, I got the 3 first books!

Ancient vendetta by Katie Reus.
Ancients Rising Book 4.
When the world devolved into chaos and fire, Alpha wolf King kept his territory from collapsing. Now, every day it seems there’s a new challenge—rogue witches, treacherous vampires, evil dragons. But his biggest threat is Aurora. Unique, magical, a female who sees him, the male, and not simply the Alpha in charge. But she’s thrown up so many walls that he’s afraid he’ll never be able to break through to the woman behind them. When the most dangerous threat they’ve ever faced ravages the city he’ll need her at his side—to defeat it, and then claim the woman who already owns him, body and soul.
A very good read with good characters. Likeable story. 4*.

This is book 4 in the Ancients Rising series and I would absolutely read the previous books before reading this one as these characters and some of their back stories were talked about previously. In this one we (finally LOL) get Aurora and King's story!! King is not only an Alpha wolf but the leader of his city full of all manner of paranormal creatures. Every day he deals with not only trying to keep his people alive but also helping others stay alive. All while trying to rebuild and go on after everything that has happened. Aurora is the one person who see's him for him. Not as someone who can do something for them or protect them. But she has so many walls up against him and anyone trying to get close to her, that he doesn't think he will ever be able to get through and make her his. Aurora was held captive for over a year. And now that she is free, she isn't willing to give up her freedom-not in any way. She may be helping others, and that does help her move on, but she isn't the same person she was before she was taken. And she knows she never will be. Which to her means that she can never have a relationship with someone. But when an evil neither saw coming arrives, can she set aside her own fears and stand at his side to defeat it?

I have been waiting and waiting for this book!!! Ever since the first book, I wanted Aurora's story!! And this book is everything I wanted it to be and more! Aurora has so many issues and hangups since she was held, and no one could blame her for that. She needed someone who would have the patience to let her not only work through things in her head but to stand beside her while she does. King is that person and more! He may be all Alpha but he has a heart of gold and I loved him for her! And because he was so patient and didn't push what he knew in his heart was right for them, not only did they have this great love between them-they also had a true friendship! I loved that!! They actually understand each other and what they each need in order to be truly happy. This book was definitely everything I was hoping for! I always love this world that this author built, but this book just reinforced exactly WHY I love it so much!

I’ve been a long-time fan of Katie Reus’s romantic suspense books. When 2020 hit us like a ton of bricks, I found myself not wanting to read my usual genre of books for long periods. So when someone suggested I try reading a genre I wouldn’t normally read, I thought it was a great idea and decided to take the plunge into this author’s paranormal romances. Before I knew it, I found myself completely submerged in all things Ancients Rising series. You can read Ancient Vendetta as a stand-alone title, but you are missing some terrific stories if you don’t read the previous books.

Now, I must confess that I loved the Twilight series (both the books and the movies). If someone had asked me before I decided to read this series what type of shifter books I’d prefer, I would have answered wolf shifters. Desperately needing to pull myself out of my book funk, I wanted to read something completely different. How great is it that one of my favorite romantic suspense authors had a fantastic lineup of dragon shifter books ready to be devoured?!

After losing myself in this post-apocalyptic world for the previous books, I’ve been waiting on the edge of my seat for King and Aurora’s story, and it did not disappoint! With wonderful characters, adorable dragonlings, fast-paced action, steamy scenes, suspense, and a twist I definitely didn’t see coming, this book kept me entertained and completely sucked into this magical world from the very first chapter. When you need a true escape from reality, you’re going to want to dive into this book series for sure.

4.5 Stars

If you haven't started this paranormal series yet--you are missing out. Urban dystopian future where all the paranormal are out in the open. We get a bit of every being in this series and it is mostly set in New Orleans. FINALLY this is King and Aurora's story.

These two have danced around each other for some time now. It takes a bit before they both feel worthy of the other. Of course the bad guys are also trying their best to do in King and take all those he cares about along with him.

Aurora is a force of her own and has taken on alpha duties with much grace. Loved seeing her venture off work and seeing what may be possible for her kind. I hope we get to see that relationship blossom along with her and King's.

Great side characters as always. So many plots I wish we could read. Can't wait to see who is up next.

Great book!

I’ve been waiting for King story and so glad that he finally got a hea. I love King and Aurora together. Love their relationship and how they manage to handle their differences. Thank you for lending me the book

Aurora and Kings friendship is beautiful to me. Her heart is my favorite thing about Aurora. When an enemy comes back to hunt and kill King things just keep getting worse for his pack and those close to him. When Aurora is caught in the middle things get tricky and dangerous.

I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ancient Vendetta is book 4 in the Ancients Rising series and finally it's time for King and Aurora. I have been patiently waiting for their story and I was not disappointed. Aurora is Star's sister who spent a year in captivity by a madman who was taking her blood since she's a Phoenix. King is the alpha wolf and is in charge of New Orleans and from the moment he met Aurora he knew she was his mate but due to her captivity he worries she's not ready. I loved how their friendship has grown since their initial meeting and how natural the romantic relationship felt between the two. I loved the addition of the Fae and King's connection to them. As with the previous books in this series there are so many wonderful characters that live in King's territory. There was also a small romantic side story with Mikael's brother Cas. Overall, this was another enjoyable addition to this series.

ARC received for review

Oh, I've so been waiting on this book. King and Aurora took forever to get together. It was so long that there's another couple (who I have no idea who they are) hook up in the middle. We finally get to find out about King's background and there's an evil from his past to defeat.

I'm not liking at all who Ms. Reus is hooking that lion up with, but it going to be some drama there.

This book has been such a long time coming! We finally get King and Aurora's story and the only negative is that the book was so quick to read!

King is, as we know, the leader of this new, post-fall New Orleans area. He rules in a fair way that all of the different paranormals appear to appreciate, even the old and prickly ones. It's no surprise to anyone that he's absolutely smitten with Aurora. She's had a rough time, having been kidnapped and horribly abused, but her rock (especially with her sister gone) has been King. He is a very patient hunter and is determined to wait until she's ready.

All those plans get sped up a bit when someone with massive power ends up attacking the city and lets King know that his old nemesis is still alive. This event triggers a domino effect of shocking reveals, twist, and turns. Eventually, don't worry, we get what we are all after. These stories and this world is so wonderfully written that I don't ever want them to stop. I'm happy for Aurora and King, but sad that the pairing has been written and I'm done with it. I hope we have many more installments to circle back and see everyone happy (especially the Lion!).

4.5 stars- ANCIENT VENDETTA is the fourth instalment in Katie Reus’ contemporary, adult ANCIENTS RISING paranormal/fantasy romance series. This is New Orleans’ Alpha wolf shifter King, and phoenix aurora’s story line. ANCIENT VENDETTA can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty but I recommend reading the series in order for back story and cohesion as there is a continuing theme throughout.


SOME BACKGROUND: Months earlier, several dragons rose from their sleep, and in the aftermath destroyed much of the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, in an apocalyptic showdown known as The Fall, but in doing so revealed the existence of the supernatural world to humankind. Ancients Rising focuses on the recovery of the city, and the group of supernaturals and dragons who have come to call New Orleans their home.

Told from several third person perspectives including King and Aurora, following several paths, ANCIENT VENDETTA focuses on the building relationship and romance between New Orleans’ Alpha King and phoenix Aurora. An ancient enemy, long thought dead and buried, has arisen and King finds himself desperate to the claim the woman he loves but as the number of dead and dying human and supernatural creatures continues to grow, King finds himself not only reliving the horrors of the past, but facing a future without the woman he loves. Enter Aurora, a phoenix of immense powers but a woman who is willing to sacrifice herself for our story line hero. What ensues is the building friends to lovers relationship between Aurora and King, and the potential fall-out as King’s past returns to destroy them all.


Meanwhile, the Fae have come to New Orleans in an effort to form an alliance with King and his Pack but all is not well in the human realm. When an old enemy sets his sights on our story line hero, he will use any means necessary including the Fae, whose connections to King are about to be revealed.


The relationship between Aurora and King is a friends to lovers, immediate attraction between the New Orleans’ Alpha and the phoenix he loves but King has bided his time, time he no longer has in the face of an ancient vendetta. The $ex scenes are limited but passionate and seductive.


There is a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters including Aurora’s small pack of supernaturals-lion shifter Axel, tiger twins Harlow and Brielle, Lola,; half demon Cynara; Ingrid and Claudine;Rhys, Dallas; dragon healer Greer; dragon shifter Casimir, and his soon to be mate Jo, dragon shifter Prima; dragonlings Hunter and Willow: the Fae King Sorgin, and his daughter Cressida., and vampire Christian who may or may not have focused his attention on Axel. The requisite evil has many faces.

ANCIENT VENDETTA is a complex, detailed and exciting story that reveals more than one mating, several betrayals, and a connection and future alliance with the Fae of the Latore Kingdom. The fast paced premise is captivating and engaging; the slow building romance is impassioned; the characters are charismatic, powerful and determined.



THE READING CAFE: http://www.thereadingcafe.com/ancient-vendetta-ancients-rising-4-by-katie-reus-review-tour/


GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3774016071


AMAZON COM: https://www.amazon.com/review/R2JMQH1P1LXFE2/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B08RP86K6N


BOOKBUB: https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/2222257177


B&N (Sandy_thereadingcafe) posted: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ancient-vendetta-katie-reus/1138545339?ean=9781635562002&bvnotificationId=46773583-6743-11ec-a6c9-12b334c28ec7&bvmessageType=REVIEW_APPROVED&bvrecipientDomain=hotmail.com#review/194120582


CHAPTERS/INDIGO (Sandy_At_the_Reading_Cafe) posted

iBooks (Sandy Sch) posted

I have been waiting for King and Aurora’s story since they first made an appearance in this series and I haven’t been disappointed by Ancient Vendetta. This is a slow-burn romance but with such amazing chemistry between the hero and heroine that it didn’t feel slow even though when you think about it, they’ve been dancing around each throughout this entire series. Given the trauma that she went through in the past it was understandable that Aurora was more than a little cautious about taking things to the next level physically and being aware of her past King was happy to follow her lead despite the urging of his wolf that he should ‘claim’ their mate. An additional bonus with this series is the fantastic cast of secondary characters who form an amazing, blended supernatural/human background setting for these books and I love catching the glimpses of the couples from previous books. Yes, the storylines tend to follow a familiar theme - big evil, usually a vampire out to oust the good guy for some perceived past slight but there’s nothing wrong with that and I love these books more for the relationships between the characters than the plots anyway.

I don’t know what Katie Reus can do with the Ancients Rising series to beat this book but with the recent addition of a Fae kingdom, I can’t wait to find out.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

Dramatic & sensual, Katie Reus’s Ancients Rising series offers dependable entertainment for me.

Ancient Vendetta—her latest release, out yesterday—is the culminating moment I’ve been anticipating for Aurora, a Phoenix shifter, & King, a wolf shifter & Alpha, who’ve been crushing on each other for a long time.

While I enjoyed this one, especially seeing Aurora & King find their way to each other & how she has the power to bring the devoted Alpha to his knees, the story doesn’t feel as straightforward or tight as I would like, which detracted at times from the pace of the main story. Basically it just feel like there’s a lot going on.

The HEA between Aurora & King is satisfying after they’ve spent so long being attracted to each other, as is the sense of camaraderie between supernaturals trying to re-build the world after the Fall & fight against baddies. Despite some of the heavy topics covered here I did enjoy this one—it’s always fun being back in this world.

3 ⭐️. Out now!


CWs: Aurora’s trauma includes having had sex with her previous captor in hopes of using it an opportunity to escape. There are repeated references to this—& her “shame”—throughout the book. A vampire allegedly rapes two others. Lots of other CWs including attempted murder & murder.


[ID: a white hand holds an ebook in front of a Christmas tree decorated with ornaments.]

4.5 stars

It’s finally time for King and Aurora’s story. This is the story I have been waiting for in the series and watching them circle each other in the background, I’m glad they are finally at the center of the story.

King is the new Alpha of New Orleans, working to rebuild the city and protect all its inhabitants - magical and human. The balance between shifter, vampire, witches, and humans is a fragile one that King hopes to keep in order to protect everyone. He has a plan, but despite all his hard work, the people closest to him think he needs a mate to fully put his plans into action.

Aurora is a phoenix, one of the last in existence. She has settled into her life in New Orleans even if she still has trauma effects from her kidnapping. She is strong and leads her pack with patience and wisdom. Helping King with the things he needs gives her a bigger purpose and she is willing to help out in any ways he needs.

Her past has her hesitating if she can ever be ready for anything with King, but he is patient and doesn’t want to push her too fast. But his patience and her hesitation may keep them from having anything real when someone from King’s past, someone King thought was dead, comes back to threaten everything.

This was a slow burn, but it wasn’t slow moving at all because of everything going on around King and Aurora. There are very few “down” moments in this story between King’s work rebuilding the city and the newest threats that have popped up to endanger the population. There is a lot more going on here than just Aurora and King figuring out if they can be mated, and as always I have loved returning to this world. This is a world filled with so many beings and stories and I can’t wait for more as they rebuild.

I have been looking forward to King and Aurora. This was a good story. Lots of our favorite characters return. I do wish more time had been spent on the love story between Aurora and King. It’s a bit of a slow burn. A few surprises and some new characters along the way. HEA.

Ancient Vendetta (Ancients Rising #4) is the book we have all been waiting for in this series by Katie Reus. Alpha wolf King and Phoenix Aurora story is her. Yahoo!! I can’t say enough about how great this story is but will also say this may not be the book to start with if you haven’t been reading the series. Now that I have said that this entire series is excellent with Ancient Vendetta being simply a stunning read.

There is the slow burn romance that has gone on through the entire series between King and Aurora. A couple of other characters have the same thing going on too. The focus on recovery and rebuilding a New Orleans that includes all (humans, shifters, witches, vampires, etc.) leaves very little time for romance. I love how friendships are build working along side each other then love comes. Liking each other in life is as important to lasting love as lusting after each other, these characters develop that true relationships.

Ancient Vendetta is everything a novel should be, there is high stakes suspense, passion, romance, danger, creativity, and imagination. I so enjoy Katie Reus’ contemporary romance suspense novels but believe-you-me she knocks it out of the park with her paranormal romances.

I have loved everyone of the Ancients Rising books but this one has something just a little extra special. Start reading today.

An ARC of the book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley which I voluntarily chose to read and reviewed. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

FINALLY we get King and Aurora’s story. These two have been tip toeing for the entire series so far. I was bummed they were merely friends for so long in this book before fast forwarding to mated.

A lot of the Darkness books (preceding series) had dual couples in the books. I was surprised we weren’t doing that here with the number of hints being dropped in books 2 and 3. We do get to see Cas, Ivyn and presumably Zephyr with their women.

Apparently there is another book coming. Maybe finally Prima and Arthur or Mira and August?

Ms Reus has delighted us again with the 4th instalment of the Ancients Rising series.
This is the long awaited story of Aurora and King, it has been building for the last 3 books and fans have been eager to read their romance.

I adore this series and this is a great addition, but I think it lacks something that the other 3 stories had. I think I was let down with the climax (pun intended) of Aurora and King finally getting together. I didn’t feel the pull of them in this story as it was in the others. In the previous books the main characters had undeniable chemistry and yearning, and Aurora and King had that in the other books but in this one I felt it wasn’t as strong. I felt more between Cas and Jo.

Anyway I still loved this book and am glad to have read Aurora and Kings Story.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me an eArc to review.

King and Aurora have been percolating in the background of the series so far, now they get to have their HEA!

Aurora was abused horribly by her abductor, naturally, this has made her wary around others. Weirdly she has never felt anything but safe around King. King, who makes lesser beings quake in their boots is wrapped firmly around her finger - they are only friends but there is that spark between them that neither is ready to acknowledge.

But an enemy from King's past has returned and is about to cause mayhem within New Orleans and the surrounding area. And there is an uppity Vampire who thinks he can abuse his coven - King has many plates spinning. He needs a partner, someone he can unload his troubles with, who has the respect and love of his people.

This is a great friends-to-lovers story. Both have a needs to protect their hearts from harm. They both have baggage they really need to unpack and King is finally going to get some answers about his childhood. There is always plenty going on and I love the way that other characters' stories are woven through, especially Cas and Mikael. All your favorites also make an appearance and when a certain fiesty Vampire's mate was revealed I was SHOOK!

I’ve been anticipating King and Aurora’s story for a long time and it did not disappoint! I’ve been anticipating King and Aurora’s story for a long time and it did not disappoint! The plot was well-paced, the characters were multi-dimensional, and the romance was a perfect slow burn.

The Plot:

As usual we had the plot that’s been going on since the beginning, of getting New Orleans back of it’s feet since the dragon attacks that revealed the supernatural. I liked getting to see more of the details of how this was happening since King and Aurora are both large parts of the effort to repair the city and improve it. The other main plot is someone that is threatening New Orleans to get to King. These two main plots balance each other out really well since one is slow going and the other is intense and happens quickly.

The Characters:

I absolutely adored Aurora in this book. She was just so kindhearted, strong, and determined. I really liked getting to see her come into her own and be the alpha to her crew and being King’s liaison between the supernatural in the city. Another thing I appreciated was that the trauma she experienced wasn’t just swept under the rug. She was still learning to deal with what happened.

As for King, I’ve been intrigued by him from the moment we met him. I loved diving into his character and seeing how loyal, brave, and strong he is. And the devotion he has to protecting the people in his territory.

The Romance:

King and Aurora’s relationship was the perfect slow burn. Things moved at the perfect pace and it was beautiful to see them open up to each other and get to just be. The only complaint I have is that we didn’t get to see more of them together. I know we’ll see glimpses of them in future installments in the series, but I want more of just them.