3.5 Wine Glass #Audio #Review of Claimed by the Elven King: The Complete Editionby Cristina Rayne

 

Title: Claimed by the Elven King: The Complete Edition
Series: Claimed by the Elven King #1 - #4
Author: Cristina Rayne
Narrator: Emily Wahlund
Format: Unabridged Audiobook, 6 hours and 56 minutes
Published: October 28, 2014 (Cristina Rayne)
ISBN: ASIN: B00OZYU2GY
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Audible
Reviewer: Linda
Source: Contest win
Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 Wine Glasses

This is the complete, four-part bundle of the serialized Fantasy Erotic Romance, Claimed by the Elven King. It contains strong adult content and is not intended for readers under 18.

For Emily Ford, being awakened in the dead of night by what seems to be the very shadows in her bedroom come to life is the least of her worries as she is spirited away to become the new wife of an elven king for the purpose of bearing his heirs. Entranced despite herself by his ethereal beauty, Emily surrenders willingly to his seduction and is introduced to a new world of sensual pleasures she had not thought possible outside of a dream.

But can a human ever really win the heart of an elf or have a place within the elven court? Especially when the biggest obstacles to both are her new husband's barren and resentful queen, who has no qualms about wanting Emily gone and is prepared to do the unspeakable to make it happen, and the whispers of anti-human sentiments within the elven court, itself?

Linda's Thoughts:
It was the middle of the night when they came for me. Even now I can’t be sure of the time, whether they waited for me to have been asleep long enough to ensure that I would be super confused if accidentally awakened, or if they had waited until after midnight when my roommate usually headed out for her graveyard shift at the hospital.

Claimed by the Elven King by Cristina Rayne is an erotic paranormal romance told in the heroine’s first person point of view. It contains strong, mature adult content. This marks my first foray into any books written by Cristina Rayne and the first I’ve ever listened to anything voiced by Emily Wahlund. I was originally drawn to this audio as the male pictured on the cover reminded me slightly of The Goblin King. Besides the entitled attitude, the similarities ended there. This is the story of human Emily Ford and Sethian, the Elven King.

As the story opens, we are with Emily, a human, as she is abducted by the elven guard in the middle of the night. She is confused and, at points, in pain, as her body is prepared for the transition from the human world to the world of the Sidhe. She learns that she has been taken to be mated to the Elven King and to produce his heirs because elven women are barren. We are present as she is becomes his bride and as she is integrated into the day-to-day of the elven court. I will add that what happened to Emily would not be ok in real life, but, in the author’s fantasy world, it works well. Amid the throes of a steamy encounter, the couple discover that they are destined soul mates. So what starts out as insta-love, actually develops into a loving relationship.

Following please find a few of my favorite quotes from Claimed by the Elven King:

For what felt like hours, we sucked on each other’s tongues while his hands seemed determined to search out and skillfully caress every spot on my body within reach that made me shudder and moan, his rock-hard erection equally determined to stimulate me into a frenzy as he sensually rubbed himself almost teasingly against my pelvis. Then before I knew it, his considerable girth was inside me…
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Sethian began, sounding thoughtful. “As I said, last night was more than a night of pleasure. When I brought you into my bed, you became my wife.
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I seemed to leave my body momentarily, and another presence filled me—Sethian—every bit of emptiness within my soul had become saturated with his essence. No—bonded. Joined, connected—our souls had somehow become one.

Emily Wahlund, the narrator, did a very good job bringing this story to life. She consistently voiced and differentiated between the characters exuding the proper emotions. She was easy to understand. I’m glad that I elected to listen to the audio of this read but it definitely required headphones.

Claimed by the Elven King is an enthralling, imaginative, descriptive, intense, fast-paced, fairy tale romance. Besides the frequent, steamy, vivid, extremely hot sex, there’s love, court politics and treachery. The story and characters are well-developed and the tale held my interest through-out. I’d like to check out the other titles from this series. If you enjoy fascinating, exceedingly erotic, paranormal romantic fantasies, I would encourage you to check out Claimed by the Elven King. Get the Omnibus as I can’t imagine reading it in serialized form.