In the final book of this series, Kelsea has been separated from her mates and is trying to reunite with them as well as find Rattle. There are political machinations happening amongst all of the Fae that Kelsea and the other humans must navigate carefully, as there is danger lurking around every corner. But ultimately our family unit prevails and there is a happy ending to this series.

I thought it was interesting to have Kelsea be separated from the mates, I liked seeing her question their bonds, and yet she is able to rely on her feelings and dismiss her worries, and it helps that each of her mates romantically reassures her at various points exactly the depths to which they care about her.

From a structural/ plot standpoint, this book felt interesting in that it had more plot than some of the previous books, but also I feel like the storyline setting up the Council being corrupt and the head Counselor being a big bad evil character needed to be introduced in earlier books. There had been a little bit of that in book one seeing Rattle be part of the Royal Hunters and feeling like there was inconsistency with how the Hunters all felt about their jobs, but really the Council and the way that Faerie has been run is not discussed in any of the books. So now in the last book to try to throw in this bad guy and not only give him a previous connection to Neiron and attempt to ret-con some backstory, it just felt flimsy and like a missed opportunity for there to have been stakes and tension building over the course of the series. It makes me wonder how much of the series the author had planned out ahead of time? I think if things had been a little bit more carefully plotted, they could have been presented in earlier books and there would have been more opportunity for the reader to understand what was on the line and build up some resentment and pressure. Then there would have been more resolution and pay off in this final book. I felt that the inclusion of the harpy was clunky and never quite answered, was she a puppet or was she trying to actually help? Ultimately there was a lot of plot that allowed our characters to resolve their various tough situations that they had been forced into, and the series does end on a happy ever after with a very dramatic five-way sex scene and cutesy epilogue.

Note on the sex: plenty of it, much of it still quite brutal and violent; a bit gratuitous because it was the last book and also because it was used for healing and reconnection too.

At the start of this book, Kelsea is in need of healing, and she learns that her mates have made a bargain with Haishe, they have betrothed her to him in exchange for him to save her life. There is a lot of bickering and antagonism from Kelsea about this, and Haishe does not reveal that he is her mate until a fair ways into the book. However, there is actually a little bit more plot and political intrigue in this installment! In the previous couple of books it felt like a lot of the plot was really only there to facilitate fighting and fucking, and while that definitely is still happening in this book, we learn a lot more about some of the politics going on between various Kingdoms in the Fae realm, and Haishe's place and reputation among different courts.

Haishe might be the most morally gray of her mates thus far, he is brutal and violent towards everyone, even Kelsea, and is unapologetic about his nature. He brings a level of pain alongside the pleasure that he gives to Kelsea, and though there were a few group scenes in this book, they were laced with violence to a level that I didn't really care for, despite being entirely consensual. This book has the most actual driving forward plot, we get to see true connection and sacrifice between the love interests and this book, and though I wish again there was more romance and emotional development, I felt that Kelsea truly could understand the depth to which Haishe had been hurt in his past, and she connected with him and understood him and understood what he needed, which was lovely.

Note on the sex: there is still a lot of dominance throughout all of the scenes, blood and pain involved, a level of violence that is really not my cup of tea, though again all parties consent and thoroughly enjoy themselves.

In this third book, Kelsea and Neiron turned to the King of the Gargoyles for help, as they are being pursued by a number of Fae that they have fought against and pissed off. There is a dramatic scene at the start that causes Kelsea and Vrath to be separated from Neiron, and though Vrath seems to be reluctant to "babysit" and protect Kelsea, we do know in his perspective that he recognizes that she is his mate. They spend some time together before the very dramatic ending of this installment of the series.

There is a little bit of an attempt of bonding between Kelsea and Vrath, they have some repartee that is spiky, and he is quick to label her as a brat and establish himself as the dominant personality as well as a very Dominant partner for Kelsea. There is a big size difference between the two of them, and Vrath is given the nickname of Daddy and he is borderline sadistic in their sexual encounters. Though we do not get to see (for the rest of the series truly) much more personality from Kelsea, I actually thought these two fit together pretty well in the emotional /romantic sense, and I thought this was probably the most connecting that she has done with any of her mates thus far. I was again wishing for a little bit more time to be passing in the book, this novella basically takes place over the course of about a day and again the fated mates Trope is doing most of the work.

Note on the sex: also glad that Vrath seemed unbothered by the idea that Kelsea already had two other mates. The Daddy Dom dynamic is not one that I personally care much for, and he was actively biting her and drinking her blood while they were being intimate, and I felt like their scenes were quite forceful and harsh, though consensual.

This second novella is following Kelsea now in the land of Faerie. She has been brought there against her will and is being essentially forced to participate in this mysterious 'hunt' in the woods where she is being hunted by Fae beings, all of the humans who have been brought there are "available for sampling" and it is unclear if consent is part of the equation for them.... But Kelsea is quickly spotted by the male love interest of this book, Neiron the Kitsune King who has the moniker "Psycho King"-- he spots her defending herself against the advances of a hyena shifter, he recognizes her immediately as his mate and comes to her defense. Over the course of this book the two of them are traveling through these mysterious woods and Kelsea is determined to get back to Rattle and she slowly comes around on the idea that Neiron might also be one of her fated mates.

Neiron was a very interesting perspective to read from, as he truly is wild and wacky, and I understand how he got the nickname of Psycho King. On the one hand this was kind of refreshing, to feel like I was reading a character that is essentially unlike any other character I can recall reading from in the past, but also he's quite unhinged and the inside joke that he develops is one of brutality: he keeps trying to present Kelsea with the hearts of enemies they face, that he has ripped directly out of their chests.

I think there was a little bit of an attempt to connect emotionally between these two, it lasted about a page or so, and again the fated mates trope was really doing all the heavy lifting and there was not very much romantic development. In the moment at the end, I had rated this book a smidge higher than the first one, I think that was primarily because the two characters actually do spend more time together on page than Kelsea did with Rattle in the first book, and so there was a little bit more believability (if that's what you want to call it for this insta-love of a trope in a novella that takes place over the course of a day). I will say that when presented with the information that Kelsea already has one fated mate, I LOVED that Neiron was totally on board and that there was not any sort of attempt at denying the fact that she already had a mate or anything other than full and complete acceptance that they would be a family unit together.

Note on the sex: again quite fierce and gory, as I believe one or both of them are actually covered in blood at the time that they have sex...

I picked up Rattled based purely on the book's cover art, I did not read the description or know going in that this was a novella that was the start of a Why Choose series. But I'm glad I picked it up and I plowed right through all five novellas/short books in about 2 weeks!

This first book was doing a lot of setup for the series, and in my opinion did the most character work for the main female character Kelsea. This book starts off and we see Kelsea's fierce fighting side as she starts a bar fight when men are making inappropriate advances, and in the next chapter we see how she will use those same fighting skills to come to the aid and defense of those who need it. After Kelsea has received her mysterious invitation / notification that she's about to be kidnapped away to the land of Faerie, we also get to see how she is resourceful as she chooses to go on the run and intends to do so by roughing it in the Scottish Highlands. She is soon being hunted by a snake person named Rattle who is tracking her through the wilderness and it is his job to capture her.

While this book does give backstory with regards to the history of the human realm versus the Fae realm, and sets up the fact that humans are selected and taken away to Faerie for some mysterious purpose, (the setting for the rest of the series), I was a little frustrated with the writing style. First, I did not care for the way Kelsea's Scottish accent was written out in her dialogue, it felt cheesy or over the top, and after many years of Outlander, I didn't even agree with how her accent was transcribed, which I totally understand is my own personal issue. Second, the writing felt a little clunky in certain spots, most obviously in the transition between scenes. We first see this very early on when Kelsea has come to the aid of the young gargoyle and she helps protect them. At the end of that chapter, there is a sharp distinct jump cut that truly made me think my Kindle had glitched! It started the next chapter with no indication of what had just happened, and no mention whatsoever of the character she just rescued? I also felt that there were certain sentences of important information that felt simply injected into random spots to inform the reader instead of finding a way to more organically introduce that information.

There is dual perspective with Rattle, but I feel that the proportion of chapters was not even, we definitely saw more from Kelsea's perspective than we do from his. From a personal standpoint, I didn't really follow what Kelsea was doing when trying to avoid being captured? I thought it was pretty cool and interesting for her to lay a trap for Rattle, that was fun and showed that Kelsea could be tactical and use her brain to make life more difficult for the lamia. But there were other portions of this time where she was trying to evade capture and yet she was allowing Rattle to see her and scent her and she was backtracking to keep an eye on him? To me it would have made the most sense to just flee and try to get as absolutely far ahead as you possibly could?

Overall this book very strongly relies on the fated mates trope, as soon as Rattle scents her blood, he recognizes her to be his mate and she agrees that she feels a pull between them, yet they have essentially barely interacted before that moment. They don't know really anything about each other and this trope is doing all of the heavy lifting instead of there being any true emotional connection or romantic development on page. And it does end on a dramatic cliffhanger, but I was enjoying the ride so I picked up the next book right away.

Note on the sex: quite fierce, very forceful but fully consensual