Four Guys. Three Immortals. Two Witches. And one baby Alpha. We got problems in the best possible ways.Welcome to the third semester of Bloodwood Academy, where crap is about to go down. I barely scooted through the last few months, and now one woman struts into my life and sends everything into disarray. We have trouble, starting with the fact that our new addition is ready to start a war.… ready to start a war.
Bloodwood Academy Semester Three is a full-length Reverse Harem romance with no end to snark, twisted sheets, and with a snarky heroine, shirtless men, love scenes that will send you swooning, and no end to pulsing… muscles.
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Well I could not wait to read this book! At the end of book 2 Ivy’s mom shows up and you get to see the true form of Tommy. UGH TOMMY, i DO NOT LIKE TOMMY. He is not one of the mates that I care for. If she is to have a demon mate then she needs one who will not degrade her. Ivy somehow lost her brain as well. She may be physically strong but mentally she needs to woman up and fast. Those is my only drawback with this book. Ivy gets more information about her mom and why she did what she did. I could not keep up with Tommy and which side he was working with. However Pater gets what he has coming to him. Ivy finally meets Finn’s mom, this should be interesting. Will Ivy’s mentality finally catch up to her physically. Will Ivy mate with Tommy? However her and the other guys do get some steamy action going on that is HOT!! Will Ivy get past her insecurities about her mother. Will she save her mom? I cannot wait to see what will happen in the next book.
The Bloodwood Academy Shifter Semester 3
by Rae Foxx
TLDR: This is a SOLID addition to the Bloodwood Academy Shifter series. If you enjoyed previous books about Bloodwood Academy, or like paranormal RH romance, explicit sex, and a great story, READ THIS SERIES.
ARC: I received a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review. I also purchased (preordered) the book.
Release date: November, 2019
Technical stuff: This story is a paranormal, fast-burn, reverse-harem romance. There is explicit sex in the story line, including MM, as well as a fair amount of NSFW language. These are not gratuitous, but part of the flow of the story. There is some violence which may be triggering for some (bullying in school, by headmaster, and by one former lover). If these may trigger you, then perhaps this isn’t the book for you.
The story is told in first person, from the FMC, Ivy’s, perspective. There is a cliff-hanger ending in the overarching story line with of this book. It stands alone as a story, but a fair amount of nuance may be missing if you have not read The Bloodwood Academy Shifter Semester 1 and 2.
Opinions and overview of story (with minimal/no spoilers):
After you read an amazing book (or a couple of books in the series), you always have the niggling worry that the next book won’t be as good. Don’t worry: Semester 3 is a worthy sequel. There are (slightly) fewer sex scenes: the intensity and complexity of those scenes has increased, and the “hotness” of the sex scenes remains unequalled. There is the introduction of MM scenes in this book, which is done respectfully (and presented in a beautiful way) in favor of character development—which, like everything else Rae Foxx writes, is done masterfully.
I definitely enjoyed the story, the sex scenes are fun and hot, the emotions and relationships feel authentic. I definitely recommend reading this book.
Previous books/backstory: *PREVIOUS BOOK SPOILERS*
Ivy comes from the wrong side of the tracks, even for a human. She finds out that she’s more than human, though, and is whisked off to Bloodwood Academy as a Shifter. She finds out that there are Fae, Witches (female and male), Vampires, and Shifters. Ivy is informed by the headmaster, Nicky, that there is one absolute rule: No relationships outside of your “species” of magic. Children of such unions are slaughtered. Ivy being Ivy… rules don’t mean much. Enter the Fae prince, Finn. (pun intended) And then Saxon, a powerful vampire, proclaiming Ivy a blood queen.
Nicky and many students inform her that she is slightly more welcome than something you’d scrape off your shoe. Bullying begins with the Headmaster’s implied consent, and Ivy, tough as titanium, endures and even thrives.
The “peeping Tom” witch Librarian who can replicate herself gives Ivy a book teaching her that it used to be common to have a reverse harem, and the rule of no cross-magic relationships is something relatively new.
Pater, the Alpha for all shifters in the area and the Nicky are set to perpetuate a dynasty by marrying Pater’s son, Howl, to Nicky’s niece, Selene. Only problem is that Howl is Ivy’s True Mate. Selene challenges Ivy for Howl, and loses badly. Pater intends to keep them apart; he threatens to rape Ivy to death, and tortures Howl. Through one thing and another, Ivy finds out that she is being used as “bait” to bring her parents (her father, specifically) to the school for reasons unknown, but probably not friendly reasons. Ivy is abducted and is nearly sacrificed in an evil magical rite. Ivy and her mates must help her escape.
There is another fight in which Pater is carried away by his supporters when it becomes clear that Ivy is going to win. Ivy’s shifters move into the house that she is entitled to as the new Alpha. Ivy faces some “growing pains” as an Alpha. Danvers is introduced as helping the smaller shifters become better fighters through some bizarre dance. Ivy is less than completely persuaded that Danvers is on their side, but lets the training go on.
Ivy is learning to use and control her magic. Tommy reappears as a voyeur, unbeknownst to Ivy and her mates. Ivy also has another voyeur who reports her magic to Pater. Tommy keeps asserting himself as a mate to Ivy, and her other mates do all they can to keep him away from Ivy. At one point, Ivy and her mates overhear Danvers and Tommy talking, and the harem and Ivy become very suspicious of them both.
After the magic comes to light, Pater abducts his son Howl, one of Ivy’s mates, and tortures him and the rest of Ivy’s shifter pack. Selene has made herself available to be a sexual partner with Pater. When Ivy realizes what’s happening, she and Tommy, a demon and her ex-lover, come to the rescue. Ivy and Pater fight for the leadership of the shifters. Pater asserts her claim as alpha has no standing since she has magic at her behest. Pater offers to let her pack go if he can fuck her. Ivy is having none of it, and winds up depending upon Tommy to help her and her shifters to escape. Ivy and her harem are essentially driven out of the school, and take refuge in caves near the school.
Howl has been badly hurt, and struggles with blaming Ivy for not being there when this all went down, and grateful that she did show up—recognizing that emotions make no sense and are complicated in relationship. Semester 2 ends with Ivy’s Mama showing up clean, clear-headed and powerful, chasing and berating Tommy.
**********Contains Spoilers**********
I enjoyed this book. I didn’t like that all the adults including her mother were so hard on Ivy and really condescending about what her, her mates and her pack have accomplished which I think is a lot considering she’s only known about her powers and the supernatural world for a very short time. I still don’t know about Tommy as I don’t think he treats Ivy that great but then again he is a Demon after all so they’re not used to being nice, caring or being truthful. I was hard to see who Tommy was actually working for as he seemed to be working a different angle for both sides, and seemed to know every new person that was introduced. I’m glad that Pater finally got what’s owed to him and I love that it was Howl who ended him considering what he’d done to him, tried to do to Ivy and that he’d been physically ab*sing his mate, Howl’s mum in front of him. I’m looking forward reading the final book and seeing what happens in their final showdown with Nicky, her vampire shifter hybrid daughter Danny and Ivy’s dad. I’d recommend this book, series and authors to everyone.
Series Review:
I hated Tommy right off the bat. That boy is a jerk! At least in the beginning. He just ran away like a little punk after the incident on the camping trip! That really upset me but things change later on in the series.
Okay with that off my chest lets get on with the rest of the review.
The MC is amazing and well written. I love her attitude and personality. She is thrown for a loop when she finds out shes a wolf and only 17 years behind in training and knowledge. That will be easy to catch up on right? Well nothing is ever that easy she as to over come many hurdles to get to happiness and even learn forgiveness. Each character grown and matures through out the series and it was wonderful to read.
The steamy scenes are on point in this series as well and some MM was introduced which I enjoyed. The series was well balanced between the story and sexy time which I feel can be a hard thing to accomplish and was done well here.
I highly recommend this series and hope who ever reads it loves it like I did!