Review: A nice new look at werewolf love and lore
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 16, 2011
I have to say I thought Stormy Glenn did a nice job with this story and exhibited growth as a writer. The story is a bit more intricate and the writing a bit smoother than her usual works. I really enjoyed this and easily gave it four stars.Stormy has written several series of books based on male/male werewolf romances. The whole Wolf Creek Pack series, Delta wolves (working with Joyee Flynn on those), and an entire series of werewolf threesomes. With this one, she seems to have rebooted the genre, keeping some of the lore she established while discarding other things. In this story, we're seeing a major shift in werewolf culture and politics. Whereas before it was punishable to be in a same-sex relationship and it was everyone's duty to mate and reproduce for the pack, the central character in this book, Alpha Asher, has worked hard to change some of the laws, making it legal for a werewolf to marry his or her true mate. This is because Asher had discovered 10 years earlier that his mate was a human male. Same-sex unions are becoming more commonplace now, though still not fully accepted. Also, the packs excessively feuded before, but now they have a new peace treaty and are cooperating more closely.In this story, Ash had come across Darren 10 years ago when he found Darren at the bottom of a ravine in a hiking accident. Darren was seriously injured and Ash cared for him, helping him to heal his wounds. He recognized Darren as his mate and performed the mating bite, establishing a psychic link between them. Then he left so that he could work on making things safe so Darren can join him. You see, the packs were warring and with same-sex couples being against the law, for Darren to join him would be a death sentence. So Ash worked on changing the laws and culture so he and Darren could be together. The one drawback to leaving Darren was that in Darren's injured state, his mind was a bit addled and he forgot most of the encounter. For the last 10 years, he's talked to a voice in his head that he thought was his own imagination or a result of the head injury he sustained. Imagine his surprise when, in running from two strange men who appeared to want to kill him, the voice in his head was real, the owner of said voice is the stunning Ash, and Ash has loved him from afar for the last decade.There's some excitement in the story, some suspense, and some good old-fashioned romance. It's fun watching the lore established with fresh changes, and the characters are pretty well-developed. Darren in particular is a complex character and is VERY entertaining. Though Ash is the alpha of the pack, Darren is pretty aggressive himself and is full of surprises. The plot flows at a good pace, and Stormy's writing is well developed and entertaining.After reading her previous works on wolf shifters, this one was a welcome change as she appeared to wanted to rework the genre. She did a good job of achieving her goal. If you enjoyed any of her previous werewolf stories, you'll definitely like this one as she learned from all of her previous writing and shows growth with this story.