I truly wanted to love this book, but it took me some time to get past the confusion of all the characters mentioned in the beginning. And the multiple POVs didn't help at times.

Overall, it was an enjoyable one. It's pretty low on the romance and I was constantly craving the moments between Vig and Kera. I loved the both of them so darn much.

Once you get past the half way mark, you're acquainted with everyone and you're easily invested in everyone. I found myself chuckling quite a bit with the Crows and the Ravens, their banter was pretty comical.

I'm planning on continuing the rest of the series because I am just absolutely intrigued but all of them!

This was my first foray into Shelly Laurenston's world where the Norse gods have clans of humans working to do their bidding here on Earth. Kera wakes naked up in a strange house with strange men rifling through it. After she manages to fight the Giant Killers with strength she did not know she had, she learns she is now a member of The Crows, the clan belonging to Skuld. There is anxiety, plenty of fighting, romance and a quest that involves finding specific jewelry stolen from various gods and goddesses. The Unleashing is a fun romp in a paranormal romance universe that is the start of a series. I will have to check out the next volumes.

Summary from Goodreads:

"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” Rundstöm 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."

My Thoughts:

I've been meaning to read this book for awhile now but it was hearing about it on the Smart Podcast, Trashy Books podcast that helped me to make it my next read. I was in the mood for a fun romance and this book definitely fit the bill. It is probably one of the most unique beginnings to a paranormal romance series that I've ever read. Kera wakes up to find herself to have become a crow - basically she is now part of this group of strong females that have special strengths and abilities. They are almost like warriors for a god - at least that's the best way that I can describe them. How wonderful to find a book that focuses on female relationships like this one does! That being said - my one and only complaint with this book was that at times it was hard to keep track of all of the characters. There are just so many of them! I'm sure that as the series goes on I will become more and more familiar with all of the characters but I did find it a bit overwhelming at times. Enough on that though! I absolutely breezed through the pages of this book! It was such a fun read and it had me giggling at times. Especially at the beginning where Kera explains more of how she first met/what she first thought of Vig. It's pretty great but I don't want to spoil anything so I won't say any more than that. I found that I especially enjoyed the relationship between Kera and Vig. He helped her in so many different ways to adjust to her new life and I adored him for that alone. Plus there are some nice steamy scenes between the two of them and I couldn't help but root for their happy ever after! This book was very fast paced and I raced through the ending because I couldn't stop reading. We don't get full closure since this is just the beginning of this series but it was wrapped up enough to feel satisfying. I'll still be reading the second book sooner rather than later though!

Overall, I really enjoyed my time with this book and am excited to have finally given this author a try. I was bummed at first to see that there are currently only three books in this series but Laurenston has other series and books that I can read as well. I just enjoyed this book so much so I want tons more just like it! I also really appreciated that the crows are all women of mixed heritages and races! Yet another thing that I just loved about this book. I'm so eager to read more in this series because of all of this. There are just so many great things about this book that have me so excited to read more in this series. I would highly recommend this book to other readers of romance, paranormal romance, and even urban fantasy. I will be picking up that second book as soon as possible! Recommended!

Bottom Line: I thought that this was a really great beginning to this unique paranormal romance series!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.

ARC provided through NetGalley for an honest review.

Whoa... this started out great. You have Kera, who is so multiethnic they can't tell what she is. She's recently been killed in the process of trying to help someone. When she wakes, she's faster and stronger than she's ever been before, even better than when she was in top physical condition while in the Marines. Turns out she is now a Crow in the service of the Norse Goddess, Skuld.

One of Kera's customers from her days working at a coffee shop, is the one who finds her dying and asks the God for a favor and bring her back.

Kera has to learn how to use her newfound abilities, at the same time straddle the line of who she is at her core as well as what she is tasked to do as a Crow, and deal with her sister-crows and their personalities and antic.

Then there's Vig, who's been in love with her since the moment he set eyes on her. That seems to be working out.

I liked the cast of characters. Although there were so many that at one point when another would be introduced, I would have to think about who some of the others were to get them all straight in my head.

There are a lot of funny moments as well as action/adventure moments. At first while reading this, all I could think was how I would love to watch this as a tv series, like "Game of Thrones". But then it got a little hokey in some places. But, I'm still a fan of Shelly Laurenston and want to give the next book in the series a try. Not only to see if it gets better, but to know if Kera will figure things out that are coming.