A Bad Breed; Kat Ross

I was able to read “A Bad Breed” in just two days’ time; it’s a super easy read that’s brimming with a delightful gothic atmosphere. This book takes an interesting twist to the Beauty and the Beast stories, and while the author says this can be read as a standalone, I’d almost recommend against that. I’ve read one of Ross’ books so I had a brief idea of what Anne was and how her powers functioned, but without that… I think you’d be pretty lost, or feel like the book was lacking in some way. But, ultimately, the book is more than just a Beauty and Beast story, but also part mystery over what happened to Anne, and who is behind the attacks in a remote village. In fact, you don’t even really meet Anne until almost 40% of the book, which I have mixed feelings about…

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I really wanted more of Anne. I wanted to see more of her and the “beast” and get a better understanding of him and the society he’s a part of. His reasons for taking Anne were so flimsy that I really felt like there needed to be more of his tortured backstory, or what have you, in order to really sell him as someone Anne would fall for, because by the end, I can’t say I cared much for his character. I really liked Anne and Vivienne though, and I greatly enjoyed Alec, too! For such a short book, there were a lot of characters that I wanted more of, whose plot lines in the story could have used a little more page time, as well. So, while I generally like Ross’ writing style, this is one of those instances where the story itself needed to be a bit longer in order for the plot and characters to get the weight and justice I felt they all deserved.

Ultimately, “A Bad Breed” reads more like a prequel to what’s to come in the fourth book in this series. The steam and sex scenes were done well in this book, even if they were very brief, but because of how the characters behaved and what they did at the end, I can’t really say I have much of an interest in continuing if they are the central couple again, however, I am really motivated to go back and finish Ross’ “Fourth Element Series”! Which is why this gets a solid 3 stars from me, it was fine, but there needed to be a bit more in order to give this story the substance I felt it needed, and I didn't like the "beast" at the end at all, either.