Review: Could've Been Better
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 19, 2014
After reading and enjoying Bonded by Nicky Charles a while back I decided to read the other books in the series with some high expectations. I’m not sure if these expectations were a little too high for the other books to meet since I found myself not liking The Mating as much as I did Bonded. It wasn’t a bad book, but just comparing with the other book it didn’t have the same likeability.As a whole, I felt the story was pretty simple. Although I did like the conflict regarding the oil company, all the disturbances happening around the pack and the mystery behind who’s at the core of it and how they connect to each other. Specifically, my concerns center around the development of Kane and Elise and their relationship. I wanted a more in depth evolution of Elise through her arranged mating to Kane and living with a new pack. I thought it would’ve served her character to have her grow into her role as an alpha female and handle all the responsibility that goes along with it. I was a little disappointed that the book was mostly in Elise’s narrative since I would’ve liked to see things from Kane’s perspective. It also would’ve given me, as a reader, a more personal look into his inner workings rather than hearing his story from the other characters. I think these details would’ve helped with the development of their relationship. I didn’t really feel the connection between them. In fact, a lot of the story was spent with Kane and Elise not even being in the same room with each other, having Kane being off doing alpha duties. There wasn’t very many moments where you see any real connection being created. So when they proclaim their love for each other, it didn’t feel genuine to me.The book as a whole was an alright read, where you can just casually just lay back with it and read. The book could’ve been better if more time was spent of delving a little deeper into the characters and their relationship with each other. Throughout the whole read I just felt like the story was just skimming the surface. Maybe my feelings from the previous book skewed my view of this book, but I thought the book could’ve been more than just a “good” read.