The Beast Within (Knights of White #1) by Lisa Renee Jones

The Beast Within (Knights of White #1) Reviews

• 
  Jacqueline's Reads

  2 Stars
  
  Have you ever started a series and wanted to so badly to like it but you just couldn’t? I did the audio version of this book, but I also read the book because I was lost at some points.
  
  This book doesn’t read easily nor smoothly. The narrator is great and I like his voice, but he couldn’t save this book.
  
  I listened to the first 30% of the book and after awhile I realized I had no idea what was going on, so I had to go back and read the book. I think Lisa Renee Jones tries very hard to be like J.R. Ward. I can see how she intertwines the secondary characters to get you hooked into the series, but it just adds confusion to me.
  
  The writing is too forced and 100% overly descriptive. I hate descriptive writing, but I generally like listening to it, but you can tell it’s really bad if I don’t get it while I listen and I think it’s way too descriptive. It got to the point I didn’t know if the author was describing the scene or the characters where having an inner monologue, it just kind of mushed together.
  
  I didn’t connect to the characters and I think the book would have been better if it was smut. At least the author could hide behind bad writing with a lot of sex scenes. But it was a really tame book and that was really disappointing.
  
  Karen and Jag meet each other in dreams and it took awhile for me to get into the book. I felt like nothing happened and I felt like the pace was so slow like this book was the start of the series, but their story ends and each book is about a different couple.
  
  I want to try one more time on another couple to see if it gets any better.
  
• 
  Coco.V

  💝 FREE on Amazon today (11/27/2018)!💝
  
  Blurb:
  ONLY PASSION CAN SOOTHE THE BEAST WITHIN...
  
  Known only as Jag, he leads the Knights of White against the soulless Darkland Beasts who took his wife and his life. Jag is immortal, destined to live with the vengeance he feels in his heart and the dreams that haunt his soul. Sensual dreams of a woman. Dreams that threaten to unleash the beast within....
  
  Karen Gibson is an innocent mortal, unwittingly thrown into this millennia-old battle, and--unwillingly--under Jag's protection. She and Jag are about to discover that they have met before--in the dreams they share.
  
  Neither trusts the other. Neither can survive alone. The secret of those erotic dreams may be all that saves them--if Jag can only accept it. At risk is Karen's life. And Jag's immortal soul...
• 
  Melindeeloo

  Lots of sex, not much romance in this series starter.
  
  
  
  The Beast Within jumps straight into the steamy stuff, with an erotic dream encounter between the lead characters, that is about lust and temptation and nothing about romance. In fact the first several intimate encounters between Jag and Karen are in these shared dream sequences. Both the characters are interesting enough once we get to know them, but until we do there is not much emotional investment in them, so the love scenes were not that satisfying from a romance standpoint. After that Jag and Karen pretty quickly discover that they have been husband and wife in the past so voila they're in love again and the author doesn't spend much time to develop their relationship in the present. We just get a couple memories from the past and their romance picks right back up without much bother about the intervening century, even though they both admit that they are different people now. (minus 1 star for this)
  
  So since the author hit the fast forward on the relationship, you might think that there was room for a bit of story then. Not really. To be fair there was a bit of world building that was done, since this was the first book in a series about these quasi-vampire good guys who fight the evil quasi-vampire bad guys. We did get to find out how truly bad the bad guys are since they enthrall and use women sexually while drinking their blood and stealing their souls. This was portrayed in a detailed scene where the bad guy revels in the woman's unhibited sexuality while she's under his spell. This is still a rape as far as I am concerned and I personally think there are less distasteful ways of developing the villians than this type of creepy voyeurism, it just takes a bit more effort. (Loses another star here) One thing I did like about this book was the supporting cast, Jag was the leader of a group of alpha males and there are several that have hero potential, cocky lady's man Des and hunky-but-vulnerable Rock with his forbidden love for healer Marisol. (Get half a star back for the heroes-to-be)
  
  So bottom line is: interesting characters, not much story, not much romance, but plenty of sex. So a 'prety good' from me for The Beast Within, but the next one in the series could be better because I am guessing that Rock and Marisol are the next pair and the setup for their relationship showed promise.
• 
  Angela Charles

  So let me first off start by saying that I have never heard of
  Lisa Renee Jones. I read and listen to a lot of paranormal romance and she is someone that I have never heard out of all my reader group. With that being said I did not know what her writing style would be.
  
  At first I was a bit confused. There were times within this story where I felt some scenes were being repeated. Take for instance the dream Jag and Karen keep having. The transitions where off so I did not know if it was a memory or if Ms. Jones forgot that she mentioned the dream in detail before. When I realized that it was a mixture of both I decided that this is just her writing style and I will have to get used to it very quickly and not think to hard.
  
  The story itself was great. I loved the world building and I liked all of the characters. Karen's sister that is the one being used and controlled to bring down Jag was not a heard but seen throughout this story. I would have to liked to know her background so I got to see the full effect on how Karen knew there was something wrong with her sister besides the obvious.
  
  I also wanted to know about Karen and Jag. I get that they are soulmates and all that but I wanted to know about them individually since this is their book and it seems as though this is the last we see of them for a while.
  
  I loved the baddy, Adrian. He seems like he is going to be a fun character to explore. The only real issues I have with all of the bad characters are that they are rapist. They way Adrian described the way he used the nurse and the way he got her to comply screams predator!!!! I could have lived without that scene.
  
  I am looking forward to continue this series and I did like the narrator, Eric Michael Summerer, who is new to me. I can see myself listening to him again since he made me feel like I was part of the story and not just sitting there on the sidelines.
• 
  Anya

  DNF - Did Not Finish.
  
  I had to push myself to get to the 25% mark so that I could say I'd given the book a fair chance.
  
  My problems are mostly with the writing style. I can't get into this story even though I'm intrigued by the premise. The writing seems stilted, contrived and forced. There is a plethora of adjectives and adverbs to the point that you could call things over described and yet I can't see them in my mind. With in the space of 2 chapters the author managed to use a two nearly identical phrases to describe the actions of 2 completely different characters.
  
  All of the description is done in the seemingly endless monologues of the characters. It is nearly impossible to tell what is the character thinking and what is the author setting the scene. The characters all think in the same way and describe things in the same way. I think the problem is that the author spends all of her time telling us what's happening instead of showing us.
  
  I am a fan of descriptive writing, Gerald Durrell is my hero in that style. This is nothing like that, it reads more like court transcript than a story.
  
  I gave up, with relief, at the 25% mark (conveniently the end of Chapter 4) and will use my scarce and precious reading time on something else.
• 
  Rachel Hill

  I have loved everything Lisa Renee Jones writes, and this is no exception..It was an easy weekend reader. The characters leave nothing to be desired, they are well rounded and of course, HOT! I liked this especially because it finishes..so many books now leave you with a huge cliffhanger and waiting for MONTHS to find out...The Beast Within in part of a series, but it's the old fashioned series where it's more about a group of people and what happens to them individually, so you don't need to read #1 first or be left out in the cold.
  Kudo Lisa Renee Jones for such good entertaining! Keep writing cuz we'll keep reading.
• 
  Ana

  From Dark to Light.....
  
  Jag leader of the Knights of White lives with the fear of giving in to the beast that lives within him and the seductress in his dreams isn't helping his cause, he feels she will be his damnation. When he bumps into the real life version of his dreamy delight he doesn't know if he should grab her and kiss her, or kill her before she seduces him like in his dreams... This can't be real, but if he and his men who exist to eradicate the Darkside Beasts are real, then why not this vision. Will this beauty that is Karen be his destruction, or will she be his salvation.
  
  Will the leader of the Darkside Beasts accomplish taking the leader of the Knights of White down by using Karen against Jag, or will they only succeed in creating a leader the likes of which has never been seen?
• 
  Linda Thomas

  Karen and Jag meet in a dream, and clash at an airport.
  
  Karen is called home for a family emergency. Jag is coming home from seeing his mentor. Both have been having weird sexual dreams that aren’t normal for either.
  Karen has a problem at the airport and Jag comes to the rescue. After all he is the leader of the Knights of White and the guy he saved her from wasn’t a beast, he was a pest. But it sets up the wrong impression of each other for both and their battle get off to a rough start. Is she setting him up for the enemy or is she a pawn? Is he the enemy who is destroying her sister or her savior?
  Great story not what I expected because of the start but really wound up enjoying it.
  
  
• 
  Eva

  The Beast Within is (1/5) of the Knight's oft White novels.
  It's a "white against the dark" Fantasy novel. Although well written, I couldn't really connect with the story. This is one of those series that'll pull you into it's spell or not. For me it was a bit to shallow. With a bit more love to the details this series could've been so much more ( e.g. Rock's and Marisol's Story or Eva's story with (Adrian?).... So it just scratches on the surface. What a shame.
• 
  Sara Grossaint

  It's DNF Day today and this one just happened to be another that didn't make the cut for me.
  
  I got a short ways in, realized I'd rather be reading Midnight With the Devil again instead of this (or, you know, anything other than this) since it did a very, very similar premise in a much better and sexier manner.
  
  I didn't make it very far in but life's too short to waste on boring smut. I'd rather read fun smut.
• 
  Edith

  Intriguing
  
  The fight between good and evil has more players. While the Darklands try to ruin everything it is the job of The Knights of White to stop them. This introduction to a new series kept me on the edge of my seat. The writing of the author shows through and captures the reader’s interest. I can’t wait to read the rest!
• 
  Diana Proto

  Not only is this an amazing read...but it will push you to read all of the books in the series. Demons...turned knights...saving and protecting good...finding your mate. Holy moly...it has everything you ever thought should be part of an exciting read. Lisa is such a good writer...but this was even better than I expected.
• 
  Smhlavelle

  Not for me
  
  This story was not for me. I truly struggled to get into the book, I struggled through the book and ended up skipping a lot of pages. It has a good concept, and world. Understanding the plot/characters, following along with it, and relating to the characters I truly struggled with. I would not continue with the series.
• 
  მოყ

  1 1/2 stars
  
  TSTL hero... This started ok, I liked the premise. By the end I was hoping it would go another way and just be over. Seriously lacking character development. I don't expect a lot from this genre but this one was hard to get through.
• 
  Debra

  Karen and Jag are thrown together in dreams before they actually meet in an airport. That is the introduction to a world of Darkland beasts. I liked the characters who were the Knights of White, it will be interesting to see their stories in future books.
• 
  Karyn

  Sexy. Erotic.
  Typical cheesy soulmate stuff. It had enough fighting and action to keep me interested. I feel the series is going to be very repetitive in its story lines.
  It's got a very Lord's of the Underworld theme/feel.
  Still I dig it.
• 
  Lauri Tribbey

  Thrills and Chills
  
  Once again Lisa Renee Jones delivered a page turning story filled in depth, intense and electricity characters. A most definitely must read story!👏🌟👏🌟👏🌟👏🌟👏
• 
  Jennifer Feltz Milkowski

  This was a great start to the series. I loved the internal debate of the H. I cant wait to read about the rest of the guys.
• 
  Chelsea K

  Not good.
• 
  Ashley Cael

  DNF - too many viewpoints, no substance, feel nothing for any of the characters
• 
  Kelsey

  It was essentially a porno... which is fine if you like that stuff. But the plot was seriously lacking also.
• 
  Jana Giacomi

  Really hard to get into at first but finally got going and making more scense. After finishing I'll give the next book a chance a it had potential to bre much better. We shall see...
• 
  Julia Gulley

  Will not continue this series