Review: 3.5 Stars for Pack of Lies
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 20, 2010
Marcus is a an alpha with a secret.  Even though he has sexual relations with the females of his pack, he secretly lusts after males and one in particular.  While out one full moon in his wolf form, he bit and changed a handsome human who he is unable to get out of his head.  But Marcus must be careful not to reveal his feelings to a pack that has members who would see another as their alpha.Jack has no idea what is happening to him.  Since his unnatural recovery from a vicious wolf attack, he has been having these wild feelings and sexual urges about a man he thought was only in his dreams.  When he finally comes face to face with Marcus he doesn't want to believe what he is telling him or admit to the burning attraction that happens whenever they're close.  The closer they become the more danger Jack is put in because someone is out to destroy Marcus and they know that Jack is the key to his downfall.Would I have liked Marcus to just come out to his pack and make them deal with his feelings for Jack?  Yes but I understand why he can't.  The werewolves follow tradition which does not include a man being with another man.  Also, Marcus is alpha when it should be Julian because he is from a family of alphas and he is supposed to rule.  But because of an incident when they were younger, Marcus is alpha over Julian and he is not happy with that.  Julian already questions and challenges Marcus' rule and to reveal how he really feels Marcus would be giving up his position of power and possibly his life.  Marcus did the best he could in his situation and for that I liked his character.Jack is a more forgiving person than I could ever be.  He is horribly attacked, turned into something he didn't even knew exists, has hateful werewolves after him for something he had no control over and his life and everything he has worked hard for is turned upside down.  Even though Marcus did all this to him, he still falls hard for him but he will not simply submit and that is what I liked most about him.  Even against the alpha, Jack will not just bow his head and do what his is told.  He does his best to hold his ground and fight.  Aside from Marcus and Jack, I didn't find the other characters that interesting.There is a lot of inner monologuing which I did not care for.  Even when there was another person in the room, they would spend more time talking to themselves and it made me feel agitated at times.  What I really liked about Pack of Lies is how animalistic the werewolves really are.  In some of the books I read the weres are portrayed as these masculine beasts that radiate power and the females just fall over.  In this book they are vicious, blood thirsty, sex crazed and have zero tolerance for any creature that is not a werewolf.  They were a bit refreshing to read.  The story itself wasn't complicated or hard to follow.  I felt it was the right length coming in at less that 200 pages.  If it was longer it would have felt dragged out.Vanessa Vaughn created interesting characters and a sexually charged cut throat world full of danger, lust and secrets.  Those who are fans of and enjoy reading M/M Romance, I think you'll like this one.