Clutch

Forbidden Desires, Book 1

By: Piper Scott, Virginia Kelly

Narrated by: Michael Ferraiuolo

Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

Bookish, snarky, and fiercely independent Nate Boudreaux leads a solitary life. Between teaching classes at the university and working toward his PhD, he doesn’t need a partner to occupy his time, and he certainly doesn’t need a man like Alistair Drake complicating his future.

Alistair Drake, black sheep of the tremendously wealthy Drake family, is more interested in adding another notch to his bedpost than another zero to his bank account. When a Grindr message brings him to Nate’s doorstep, then straight to his bed, he has no reason to believe that what they share will be more than a simple hookup, until, three months later, a tug on his soul informs him otherwise.

For the Drake family has a secret - one that will force Nate and Alistair together as much as it will demand that they be torn apart. One that Alistair and his brothers have carried all their lives...and one that Alistair and Nate’s future children will carry, too.

Bound to each other by the three precious impossibilities, Nate and Alistair have no choice - no matter the consequence, they will fight for their forbidden clutch.

Clutch is a 64,000 word steamy omegaverse mpreg-ish romance that will leave you in stitches. It contains a Grindr hook-up gone very wrong (or very right), giant magical lizards, a pig named Olive, a wank throne, and a HEA, right down to the white picket fence.

©2018 Piper Scott, Virginia Kelly (P)2019 Piper Scott, Virginia Kelly

I wish I could of given the narration more stars

The below review is very similar to the book review I posted. The audible version is so good, I think this may be the first time I’ve wanted to give more than 5 stars. Michael Ferraiuolo’s narration brought to life all the things I loved about the book. Alistair’s, Sebastian’s, and Everard’s snotty attitudes. Harry’s wonder and joy with life. Nate’s bemusement over EGGS. Really well done.

This book was a joy from beginning to end. Nate and Alistair so belonged together. Nate toned down Alastair’s want to be in control and Nate’s feisty personality came to the forefront in dealing with his mate.

The premise of the book is that dragons are (normal), eggs are (normal), mate bonds are (normal and so hot). So much happening in this book it’s hard not to give to much away.

The other characters are well fleshed out and added so much to the story. Even Olive the pig had a personality. However, Olive eating twice cooked pork is so not cool.

I enjoy Mpreg (even though this was very different). I’m very eager for the next book.

A Society of Dragons

Clutch is the first book in the Forbidden Desires series, and an amazing way to start a new series. The series is set within a world very similar to our contemporary world, however, within this universe there are alphas, betas, and omegas as well as a hidden dragon population.

The hidden dragon society have their own laws and social norms, and one of those rules is to not get a random omega pregnant without the approval of the dragon council. Alistair breaks that rule when he hooks up with Nate, aka Iggy, after matching on a dating app. Iggy has to figure out how the dragon world works while caring for his offspring and falling in love with Alistair. There is so much humor, snark, and incredibly sexy moments throughout this book. The writing combo of Piper Scott and Virginia Kelly is electric—they are both great writers on their own and together they have created a fascinating and enjoyable story.

The audiobook was narrated by Michael Ferraiuolo who did a fantastic job. I love Michael’s voice and always enjoy his audiobook performances. He really nailed the personalities of each character and I was totally engaged with the story. The audiobook production was well done and I enjoyed this book immensely.

- 4 stars -

This is my second time reading and listening to this book. I have read a couple of mpreg books before, but this is the first series I have read that is an mpreg with Dragon eggs/egg laying and the concept is rather interesting to me. I don't know if I have a preference of which type of mpreg I like (egg laying vs. Human child), but I might prefer the egg laying because - at least in this series - the omega isn't saying "I hate you and this is all your fault that I'm suffering through this pain" during labor. Which I find it sad and rubs me the wrong way when I read someone say that as having a child is a 2 person process and it's something that you should want together, despite the pain and discomfort it brings. Also, the whole giving birth scene just seems to be more tolerable for me to read at times when it's about laying eggs and not about giving birth to a child.

* Spoilers *
I don't think I have a whole lot to say about this book. I did enjoy reading it and there wasn't a whole lot of angst as despite a few ups and downs, everything went pretty smoothly. I am curious if Nate will finish whatever he was doing at school at some point. Also, I am curious on if Nate and Alistair will have another clutch at some point in their lives. Can baby dragons be female alphas? Nate had named one of his baby dragons Malory and I thought that was more of a girls name than a boys name, but who knows. I am also curious with just how big their new house is, which I am guessing it's probably big, but not as big as what Ev and Sebastian have.
I did enjoy both Nate and Alistair as characters, but I felt like Alistair was very negative towards himself except towards the end. I'm guessing it's from all the other dragons - mainly his family - belittling him on who he is and what he does with his wealth. It kind of didn't make sense on what Ev meant by that Alistair always got himself into trouble and so on, when it was never stated how he got into trouble in the past and on what he even did to get into trouble. And if Alistair was brought up with his family constantly saying stuff like that to him, it's no wonder he kept looking down on himself, on what he had, and considering himself a failure as a dragon. I am relieved that Nate was perfectly happy with what Alistair had - and with who he was - and simply wanted to be with Alistair and their eggs/baby dragons and nothing more. Material possessions were pretty much bonuses for Nate. I do find it interesting and somewhat amusing that once Alistair started making more money and Nate saw what Sebastian and Perry had in their hoard with the bed, that he wanted something better than Alistair's throne in their new hoard. But it's understandable that he would have a few suggestions of what he wanted in their new home. I'm not exactly sure If I liked the whole "I provide for you" dynamic Alistair had towards Nate as it did make their relationship feel a bit unbalanced at times - mainly in the epilogue - but if their happy with it than it is what it is. I am looking forwards to rereading Harry and Ev's story again. The last time I read this series I only got to the beginning of book 3 and stopped because it just seemed stressful with the whole forbidden relationship, but this time around I plan on finishing this series. I am curious if we will see all of Alistair's siblings, since he said he had seven (?) other siblings (or maybe he said there was seven of them in the family?) But so far we've seen Ev, Sebastian, and Geoffrey, so I'm curious on who we will see next out of the siblings.

*Narration*
The narration definitely heightened my enjoyment of the story. At times it was a little hard to tell who was speaking, but that only happened occasionally. There was a couple other issues I had, but weren't exactly too big of a deal. In the beginning when Alistair is telling Nate repeatedly to nest so that he can heal him and also allow Nate to calm down, more than once it sounded like the narrator was saying rest instead of nest, except for maybe the very last time Alistair said to nest. So that whole nest and rest mix up was a bit confusing. Another time the sentence that Alistair had spoken was completely cut off from the audio, so it would sound a little odd if you weren't reading along, even though it was a very long sentence and the meaning of it was pretty much repeated after he had said it. And then the narrator accidentally said siblings instead of hatchling towards the end of the book, which it also has the same meaning in that moment. So basically the issues I had aren't really that big of a deal for me and it's probably just me being nitpicky.

Overall, this is a pretty good book and I would recommend it to other people if they were interested in this genre with mpreg.

Chaucer, Malory, Abelard, and Olive the pig

Did you know a litter of baby dragons is a clutch? Neither did I. There are a whole bunch of things about dragons that I was completely in ignorance of until I read this book. Am I now an expert? No, not likely, but I am certainly more engaged and interested in the topic.

I’ll take a step back.

Nate Boudreaux is an omega who occasionally gets on Grindr to find one-night stands. He’s prodigiously careful about protection – not just condoms but he also uses birth control. He’s a poor student and there’s no way he could ever care for a child. Alistair Drake is an alpha who is also on Grindr looking for a hook-up. He has magic spunk but in the almost millennia he’s been alive, he’s never sired any little dragons. In fact, he’s still considered immature. And poor by dragon standards. I mean, if you’ve had hundreds of years to amass a fortune, you should be rich, right?

One fateful encounter with Alistair’s magic spunk and Nate is pregnant. Only not like any pregnancy he’s ever heard of. After birthing eggs, Alistair appears to spirit him away. He’s reticent but figures trying to explain the three eggs is going to be far more trouble than it’s worth. Once ensconced in Alistair’s luxurious penthouse, Nate finds himself taking stock of his life. He’d never planned on being a parent but now he’s bonded with the eggs, there’s no way he’s giving them up. If that means attaching himself to an arrogant know-it-all who has no concept of how humans live than so be it.

The dynamics between the two men was fascinating and the snarky banter was fun. And the sex scenes were really hot. Scorching. I also really liked the family dynamics - Alistair has brothers who tease him mercilessly but also step in to support him, including when he faces the council of dragons for the unsanctioned clutch. There is some action thrown in as well to make life interesting. I won’t go into much detail, but I adored Nate’s beta friend Harry. And Steve. Can’t forget Steve.

This is a great book. Michael Ferraiuolo narrates and, as always, he’s perfect. His Alistair is bang-on, especially the upper-crust accent. This is only the first book in the series and I look forward to more adventures.

Perfect Eggs

This story starts out strong and keeps going. I love the way the relationship builds between Nate and Alistair. There is also the action and intrigue that is happening. I can't wait for the rest of the series and more secrets that will be uncovered.
I listened to the audio version and it was so well done.

I loved it.

This is a great start to a new series. I love all of the different voices that Michael Ferraiuolo does for the characters. He makes it easy to distinguish who is speaking. The authors have created an interesting world.

Fantastic start to a new series!

Forbidden Desires immediately climbed to the top of my favorites and reread lists. When I found out that Michael Ferraiuolo was doing audio I was ecstatic. Ecstatic is probably tame to what I was actually feeling.

This series is a unique take on Dragon shifters as a whole and it's absolutely fabulous. The writing is on point the story is amusing heartfelt and addicting. This first book in the series introduces a new element to Piper Scott's omegaverse that fits in flawlessly. The writing duo of Kelly and Scott is like a one-two knockout punch in a boxing ring. They complement each other and bring the stories to a whole new level.

And then you have the incredibly talented Michael voicing an already incredibly awesome story and raising it to another level. He brings these characters and this story to life in a way that has rarely been seen in my opinion in the audio world. I'm talking huge levels of fabulousness. You bring all of these things together and you have the first book in the series that immediately went into my re-listen rotation.

So cute!!!

I'm not generally a bog fan of dragon shifter stories, but this one was delightful. It was fun and sweet and hot. And Michael Ferraiuolo did a great job narrating.

As advertised

Exactly the sort of fluffy story I wanted. Great narration. Good story for when you do not want to think too hard or deal with much angst.

The best series

I have read this book multiple times in ebook, audiobook, and even the limited edition hard back version and it always makes me happy to see Harry.

Yes I know that this is not about him but he is my favorite and when he is hurt and missing Steve, I get tears in my eyes.

Michael Ferraiuolo's narration is perfect and he nails all the characters.