Review: No Alpha Here, Just A Psychotic Man...
Rating: 1 out of 5
Date: 04 29, 2012
First off, I hate, hate, hate giving books low ratings & negative reviews, but I couldn't pass on this one. Staking His Claim by Lynda Chance sounded promising, but it was a book that I did not like, less enjoyed reading.Brief summary: Twenty-one-year-old Elaina Ruiz had just lost her mother to breast cancer. Having no one to turn to, she goes to stay with her aunt and uncle for the time being. From there, she meets their neighbor, Raul Vega, who assumes she's still eighteen years old. Since he still considers her "too young" for him, he decides to wait until she is grown up before he stakes his claim on her.My thoughts: I liked the concept of the story. However, that was it. Raul was not the type of 'alpha' I enjoyed reading about. His actions and demeanor were creepy, if not downright scary psychotic. Throughout the story, I just feared for Elaina's life. He was possessive, aggressive, and demanding to the extreme. Also, I felt that this story just stereotyped Latino men to its extent because of the 'machismo' concept which was quite of a turn off for me. Furthermore, this story had no depth, poor characterization, no relationship development and no chemistry between the two protagonists. The reader is lead on to believe that Raul and Elaina wants each other more than their next breath, but I couldn't feel the passion, let alone the sexual tension.Overall, I didn't like this novella even though I really wanted to. Others seemed to enjoy this story so maybe this was just not my cup of tea.