Review: Compelling story about a complicated couple
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 9, 2012
This is the first of a trio of books that read and feel like a single novel.  I am assuming this is a debut author and must say this is a very accomplished beginning.  I really enjoyed the book, which is very well-written, full of witty dialogue and memorable turns of phrase.  Unquestionably, it is miles better than many of the other entries in heavily populated subgenre of gay shifter erotic fantasy.The relationship between the central couple, Stavros and Kent, is especially well done: there is a lot of sexual heat and strife between these two, but without becoming overly sweet, there is also generous amounts of tenderness and forgiveness.  More importantly, the author really explores the complexity of this relationship: Kent is an angry, immature young man who was abandoned by his own father and is now discovering that father's true legacy--that he is a were-wolf.  Stavros is forced to take on the roles of lover, father substitute, and also the Alpha of Kent's new pack.  This creates lots of room for believable, compelling conflicts.  The interactions with the rest of the pack were also very good and did not follow the usual clichéd paths: I would have liked to see more of Tennyson, Jason and the rest.  I also really enjoyed the intrigue with the Russian pack, and was genuinely surprised and satisfied by the ending.  (Though as a female reader I was more than a little disheartened by the book's sole female character, a vapid, manipulative twit, who literally goes into heat and throws herself at every available male.  Yuck.)My main complaint, and the reason I gave it four not five stars, is that this really felt like a single novel, carved up and then sold as three separate 70-page books.  Even if that wasn't what happened, the books should have been combined because they tell a single story.  At $2.99 a piece, the trilogy cost almost $9, which is quite high for any e-book, especially in this genre for a debut author.  Adding to my annoyance was the fact that book was poorly formatted,  full of run-on sentences, and needed another session with the proofreader.  The author has written a very enjoyable, accomplished book and I will likely read later books, but he or she squandered a good portion of my good-will with this ploy.