Review: simplistic
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 04 3, 2013
This book (like others by this author) has received mixed reviews (let us leave the clearly fake ones aside) therefore I waited until I could get it as a freebie on Am.Ms Cole can write. There are some grammar mistakes but her writing is fluid and well paced.Unfortunately all of her contents are simplistic to say the least."You're their Alpha," ... "But we both know who's the lead in this relationship." - These nice words are uttered in earnest by one of the leads to the other. I may be Italian and fiery but should anyone dare to speak them to me, even someone I loved, I would down him with a broken nose.Real relationships -healthy ones I mean, other sorts I am not interested in, especially not in a romance- always see a balance of strengths and weaknesses between the partners but the key-word is exactly that: "partners". Two people on an equal footing.Ms Cole's relationships are all about "mating". The lovers involved have no say in it: as soon as they are mated they become blubbering fools with no control whatsoever on their trousers. Are they straight and find themselves with a male mate? Their loss, as their mate could theoretically force them to submit.Life in the pack is all about hierarchy, by the way. Obnoxiously so. Which might be realistic but if realism is the point, why are the female shifters in this story that tame? In nature she-wolves have no problem in baring their fangs to annoying males.The end result is that this short story, the first episode in a series, is short on plot, even shorter and more disappointing in characterization and very rich in banter between two leads engaged not in exploring their feelings but in establishing who is submitting to whom.Am I going to read the next instalments? Perhaps, but only as freebies.