Review: 3.75 stars
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 08 4, 2012
I check Amazon's gay best seller list daily for new authors and books. When this book popped up, I was instantly pulled in by the blurb. A hot biker whose a shifter and his closeted mate? You sold me.The Wolf Biker's Mate is book ten in the Wolves of Stone Ridge series by Charlie Richards. Normally, with a series you would have to read books one through nine to understand what is going on, but to me this could be read as a standalone, which was great. (I have since gone back and purchased more books in this series as I fell in love with some of the characters introduced in this one.) But rest assured, you can catch what is going on without reading any previous installments.Kade is a shifter who to help his sister out goes out to dinner with some friends of hers. When he meets Tom, he instantly knows the man is his mate, too bad the guy is on a date with his girlfriend. No worries, Kade decides to pursue Tom anyway and the chase and eventual capture is a fun ride! As Tom and Kade give into their feelings, Tom finds out Kade is a shifter. What happens next: will Tom finally come out of the closet for his lover or dump him because he cannot handle the revelations?What I enjoyed most about this book was Kade. He's sort of this bad boy biker type with tattoos and piercings who seduces Tom with hot looks, dirty talk and pure sex appeal. His characterization was very enjoyable. While Tom was your typical closeted gay man trying to deny his sexuality, he really doesn't put up much of a fight when Kade comes after him. (Not sure if I would either!) But I did respect him for dumping his girlfriend early on when he realized he was attracted to Kade and not her. Also, another cool thing? The author has the couple spend time together outside the bedroom during their courtship. Yes, they go hiking in the mountains. That was refreshing to me in a genre where shifter books usually have the couple instantly in love and bonding without getting to know each other. However, do not despair fans of hot sex scenes, there is plenty of that too!Now, I did not have any major issues with the book. So why the 3.75 rating you ask? I guess even though I loved the main character (Kade) and laughed at the antics of some of Kade's friends, I wanted a little something different from your typical werewolf book in regards to plot. And while following the same tried and true format of other books in the genre is not a bad thing, overall the plot was not as good as some of the others in this series. (I highly recommend Jared's story in "Goading the Enforcer." That is easily a 4.25 star read.)To conclude: recommended for shifter lovers like me and readers who like their men on the wild side.Reviews by Jessewave