Man, what a mess of a book.
(Spoilers under the cut.)
(Spoilers under the cut.)
Friday, April 29, 2016
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Book 12: The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett
Okay. So I read this book as part of a "please read my favorite books!!!" exchange with my friend over at Harriet Reads Books. She's reading a bunch of books by Guy Gavriel Kay, and I'm reading The Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett, which begins with The Game of Kings.
Part of why this became an official exchange/contest (if you are looking for two people who can somehow turn reading into a competition, you've found them) is because Dunnett books are very very difficult to recommend. She told me this for many many months before I started reading this, and while I believed her, I didn't really understand until I started reading it myself. It's historical fiction that takes place in the mid-1500s in Scotland and England, and the book doesn't really go out of its way to explain the history. There's a list of characters at the beginning of the book, but while that's helpful for cross-reference it doesn't help much in terms of remembering who has done what (or why). The best way I can describe the difficulty with this book is that the first two hundred pages are essentially setting up the chessboard for the rest of the book, and in fact for the rest of the series. Lots of really interesting stuff happens in those two hundred pages, but you don't understand what or why it's important until page 400 or so. And it feels like every new chapter or subchapter starts from a new POV, and so you spend a ton of time just trying to figure who everyone is and why it matters. It's not a very fast read, but putting the book down for more than a day or two is also very risky, because getting back into the flow is so difficult.
However. Having said (and meant) all of that, the payoff in the second half of the book (and specifically in Part Four) is so good that it makes every second of confusion and frustration I suffered in the first half worth it. This is a book that has reveals that are so good and so unexpected that I don't actually want to talk about any of the plot. If you can get through the first two parts, you will end up gently tossing your e-reader in shock or tearing up while reading it on the subway, if you're anything like me. For a variety of reasons, I didn't go into this book completely cold - I knew who some of the good guys were, even though the text doesn't make it clear until halfway through the book, and I also knew who a couple of the bad guys were as well. I also knew it had to have a (mostly) happy ending, because my friend would never make me read it if it didn't, even though it's not a book without its tragedy. But even the minor details that I was spoiled for didn't ruin the suspense, because I had no idea how any of the story was going to come together, or how it would be resolved. And it's not just that the plot itself wraps up perfectly - the emotional impact of everything is so overwhelming.
The book doesn't pull any punches - when good things finally happen for characters you've been rooting for, it's such a relief because they have to suffer through so much first. And likewise, the emotional impact when things go wrong is real - mistakes have real consequences, and they aren't handwaved away or anything like that. You can trust that every emotion the book wants you to have will be earned, for better or for worse.
Dunnett's writing was influential for both Guy Gavriel Kay and C.S. Pacat, who have each written some of my favorite books, so it's fascinating to read Dunnett now. Some of her influence is in the themes and the relationships that all three writers focus their main attention on, and some of it is more granular than that - Kay in particular uses a few of the same narrative techniques Dunnett did, which meant that when they popped up in Game of Kings I was immediately familiar with them. Those moments felt like little gifts to me as a reader, like a breadcrumb trail of influences; suddenly I felt like I shared something with both Kay and Pacat as readers. It was one more thing that made reading Dunnett incredibly rewarding for me.
Grade: A
Part of why this became an official exchange/contest (if you are looking for two people who can somehow turn reading into a competition, you've found them) is because Dunnett books are very very difficult to recommend. She told me this for many many months before I started reading this, and while I believed her, I didn't really understand until I started reading it myself. It's historical fiction that takes place in the mid-1500s in Scotland and England, and the book doesn't really go out of its way to explain the history. There's a list of characters at the beginning of the book, but while that's helpful for cross-reference it doesn't help much in terms of remembering who has done what (or why). The best way I can describe the difficulty with this book is that the first two hundred pages are essentially setting up the chessboard for the rest of the book, and in fact for the rest of the series. Lots of really interesting stuff happens in those two hundred pages, but you don't understand what or why it's important until page 400 or so. And it feels like every new chapter or subchapter starts from a new POV, and so you spend a ton of time just trying to figure who everyone is and why it matters. It's not a very fast read, but putting the book down for more than a day or two is also very risky, because getting back into the flow is so difficult.
However. Having said (and meant) all of that, the payoff in the second half of the book (and specifically in Part Four) is so good that it makes every second of confusion and frustration I suffered in the first half worth it. This is a book that has reveals that are so good and so unexpected that I don't actually want to talk about any of the plot. If you can get through the first two parts, you will end up gently tossing your e-reader in shock or tearing up while reading it on the subway, if you're anything like me. For a variety of reasons, I didn't go into this book completely cold - I knew who some of the good guys were, even though the text doesn't make it clear until halfway through the book, and I also knew who a couple of the bad guys were as well. I also knew it had to have a (mostly) happy ending, because my friend would never make me read it if it didn't, even though it's not a book without its tragedy. But even the minor details that I was spoiled for didn't ruin the suspense, because I had no idea how any of the story was going to come together, or how it would be resolved. And it's not just that the plot itself wraps up perfectly - the emotional impact of everything is so overwhelming.
The book doesn't pull any punches - when good things finally happen for characters you've been rooting for, it's such a relief because they have to suffer through so much first. And likewise, the emotional impact when things go wrong is real - mistakes have real consequences, and they aren't handwaved away or anything like that. You can trust that every emotion the book wants you to have will be earned, for better or for worse.
Dunnett's writing was influential for both Guy Gavriel Kay and C.S. Pacat, who have each written some of my favorite books, so it's fascinating to read Dunnett now. Some of her influence is in the themes and the relationships that all three writers focus their main attention on, and some of it is more granular than that - Kay in particular uses a few of the same narrative techniques Dunnett did, which meant that when they popped up in Game of Kings I was immediately familiar with them. Those moments felt like little gifts to me as a reader, like a breadcrumb trail of influences; suddenly I felt like I shared something with both Kay and Pacat as readers. It was one more thing that made reading Dunnett incredibly rewarding for me.
Grade: A
Book 11: Craving Flight by Tamsen Parker
I bought this novella because someone on my twitter feed mentioned it in passing, and I'm really glad I did. It's about an Orthodox woman named Tzipporah who manages to be fulfilled both spiritually and sexually in her marriage.
I've read a fair number of romances that involve characters who feel they need to leave their strict communities in order to be happy in their relationships, either because they're not straight or because of kink. This is the first one I've read in which someone found happiness within a strict religious community because her desires (in the case, the desire to submit sexually) could be compatible with those teachings. In her marriage to her husband Elan, they are equals outside of the bedroom, which makes their BDSM sex life even more fulfilling for both of them.
I started this book expecting her sexual desires to be the source of most or all of the conflict, and instead it was how Tzipporah, who had been raised Jewish but not in an Orthodox community, could fit in with her religious community when she hadn't been born into it. It was really interesting to see her and her husband connect via sex while still needing to learn to trust and communicate with each other outside of the bedroom. I thought the emotional arc could have used a couple more chapters to explore how that developed over time, and perhaps to show how their deepening understanding of each other emotionally was then reflected in their sex life. I wanted a bit more resolution than the novella was able to give me. On the whole I really enjoyed it, though.
Grade: B
I've read a fair number of romances that involve characters who feel they need to leave their strict communities in order to be happy in their relationships, either because they're not straight or because of kink. This is the first one I've read in which someone found happiness within a strict religious community because her desires (in the case, the desire to submit sexually) could be compatible with those teachings. In her marriage to her husband Elan, they are equals outside of the bedroom, which makes their BDSM sex life even more fulfilling for both of them.
I started this book expecting her sexual desires to be the source of most or all of the conflict, and instead it was how Tzipporah, who had been raised Jewish but not in an Orthodox community, could fit in with her religious community when she hadn't been born into it. It was really interesting to see her and her husband connect via sex while still needing to learn to trust and communicate with each other outside of the bedroom. I thought the emotional arc could have used a couple more chapters to explore how that developed over time, and perhaps to show how their deepening understanding of each other emotionally was then reflected in their sex life. I wanted a bit more resolution than the novella was able to give me. On the whole I really enjoyed it, though.
Grade: B
Book 10: Act Like It by Lucy Parker
I read this book during breaks from reading a very dense historical novel (more on that shortly), because I really needed a light, easy-to-read contemporary romance to balance things out. And this fit the bill perfectly.
The book focuses on a backstage romance between Lainie, a feisty stage actress, and her broody snobbish co-star Richard, whose status as a celebrated actor is being tarnished by his off-stage reputation as a jerk. The two of them are thrown together into a fake relationship by his management in order to salvage his public image and the financial fate of their play. This is complicated by the fact that Lainie's ex-boyfriend is also starring in the play with them, and he's none too pleased by her dating anyone new, let alone Richard.
This isn't a flawless book - a lot of the theatre stuff is frankly nonsense, and Richard's poor little rich boy background only somewhat explains away his bad behavior prior to dating Lainie. But the emotional arc of their fake relationship blossoming into something real is perfect, and I always really liked Lainie as a protagonist and how the two of them function as a couple. I prefer a bit more sex in my romance novels than this one had, but the chemistry between the two of them felt convincing and real to me, at least. This is a great book to read on your commute or between other things - engaging enough while you read it, but you won't be in danger of missing a stop because you'll be too engrossed. I liked it a lot.
Grade: B
The book focuses on a backstage romance between Lainie, a feisty stage actress, and her broody snobbish co-star Richard, whose status as a celebrated actor is being tarnished by his off-stage reputation as a jerk. The two of them are thrown together into a fake relationship by his management in order to salvage his public image and the financial fate of their play. This is complicated by the fact that Lainie's ex-boyfriend is also starring in the play with them, and he's none too pleased by her dating anyone new, let alone Richard.
This isn't a flawless book - a lot of the theatre stuff is frankly nonsense, and Richard's poor little rich boy background only somewhat explains away his bad behavior prior to dating Lainie. But the emotional arc of their fake relationship blossoming into something real is perfect, and I always really liked Lainie as a protagonist and how the two of them function as a couple. I prefer a bit more sex in my romance novels than this one had, but the chemistry between the two of them felt convincing and real to me, at least. This is a great book to read on your commute or between other things - engaging enough while you read it, but you won't be in danger of missing a stop because you'll be too engrossed. I liked it a lot.
Grade: B
Friday, April 15, 2016
Book 9: A Gentleman's Position by KJ Charles
A Gentleman's Position is the third book in the Society of Gentlemen universe, and it really can't be read before reading the other books (and one short story) in the series. Luckily, all of the stories are fantastic, and this is an incredibly satisfying end to the main sequence.
I don't want to talk too much about the specifics of the plot of this one in case there are readers of this blog who haven't read the first three stories and are intrigued. So what I will say is that this series focuses on the Ricardians, a group of gentlemen in Regency-era England who all prefer the company of other men to ladies, and their various love affairs. Unlike a lot of historical romances (many of which I enjoy very much), this series is very firmly rooted in the actual history of the era, although all of the main characters featured are fictional. As a result, there's a complexity to the universe that isn't always present in historical romances, and I love the focus on what goes on underneath the surface of manners and expectations for men of different classes and social positions.
This is the first book that focuses on Lord Richard himself, and part of what makes the first half so satisfying is seeing him taken to task for various things he's said and done in the first two books. He's a character who has to be taken down a notch or two before he can have the happiness he does actually deserve, and it was really great to actually get those confrontations that the first two books made me want. A friend of mine on twitter described the book as transforming midway through from gay Pride & Prejudice (with a bit of Jane Eyre) into gay Ocean's Eleven, which is exactly what it feels like. The second half of the book centers on the Ricardians coming together to thwart the evil intentions of an outsider, and it's the perfect final resolution to the conflict that the entire series has been building since the first short story. There's never any doubt that it will work, because it's a romance, but how they get there is so well designed and told with the perfect level of suspense and intrigue. I loved it. The second I finished it I started a reread of the entire series from the beginning. I would happily read a million more stories set in this universe.
Grade: A
I don't want to talk too much about the specifics of the plot of this one in case there are readers of this blog who haven't read the first three stories and are intrigued. So what I will say is that this series focuses on the Ricardians, a group of gentlemen in Regency-era England who all prefer the company of other men to ladies, and their various love affairs. Unlike a lot of historical romances (many of which I enjoy very much), this series is very firmly rooted in the actual history of the era, although all of the main characters featured are fictional. As a result, there's a complexity to the universe that isn't always present in historical romances, and I love the focus on what goes on underneath the surface of manners and expectations for men of different classes and social positions.
This is the first book that focuses on Lord Richard himself, and part of what makes the first half so satisfying is seeing him taken to task for various things he's said and done in the first two books. He's a character who has to be taken down a notch or two before he can have the happiness he does actually deserve, and it was really great to actually get those confrontations that the first two books made me want. A friend of mine on twitter described the book as transforming midway through from gay Pride & Prejudice (with a bit of Jane Eyre) into gay Ocean's Eleven, which is exactly what it feels like. The second half of the book centers on the Ricardians coming together to thwart the evil intentions of an outsider, and it's the perfect final resolution to the conflict that the entire series has been building since the first short story. There's never any doubt that it will work, because it's a romance, but how they get there is so well designed and told with the perfect level of suspense and intrigue. I loved it. The second I finished it I started a reread of the entire series from the beginning. I would happily read a million more stories set in this universe.
Grade: A
Thursday, April 14, 2016
Book 8: Jackdaw by KJ Charles
This is a standalone book that takes place in the Charm of Magpies universe, which is basically Victorian England but with magic! I confess that I haven't read the original trilogy that comes before this book in the universe, but I didn't have any trouble following what was happening in this book even lacking that background.
Jackdaw focuses on the romantic relationship between Ben Spenser, a former police constable, and Jonah Pastern, a thief with a secret. At the beginning of the book the two of them are no longer together, and through alternating flashbacks with scenes set in the present the reader discovers why. I loved the structure of the story; it drew out the tension and made it impossible for me to stop reading, and then when we finally got done with the flashbacks and the story focused fully on the present it was both heartbreaking and such a relief.
The first half wouldn't have been so satisfying if they weren't able to rebuild their trust and learn how to function again as a couple and find a place for themselves in the world, and the way they do that in the second half is basically everything I could have wanted. KJ Charles is so good at writing couples whose strengths and weaknesses balance each other out, and Ben and Jonah are no exception to that. They both have to grow and change to be with each other, and the process of how they each do that, both separately and together, is lovely. And a love story between two people on opposite sides of the law who are both just trying to do their best is basically everything I want in a pairing, and this one really delivers. What a great read.
Grade: A
Jackdaw focuses on the romantic relationship between Ben Spenser, a former police constable, and Jonah Pastern, a thief with a secret. At the beginning of the book the two of them are no longer together, and through alternating flashbacks with scenes set in the present the reader discovers why. I loved the structure of the story; it drew out the tension and made it impossible for me to stop reading, and then when we finally got done with the flashbacks and the story focused fully on the present it was both heartbreaking and such a relief.
The first half wouldn't have been so satisfying if they weren't able to rebuild their trust and learn how to function again as a couple and find a place for themselves in the world, and the way they do that in the second half is basically everything I could have wanted. KJ Charles is so good at writing couples whose strengths and weaknesses balance each other out, and Ben and Jonah are no exception to that. They both have to grow and change to be with each other, and the process of how they each do that, both separately and together, is lovely. And a love story between two people on opposite sides of the law who are both just trying to do their best is basically everything I want in a pairing, and this one really delivers. What a great read.
Grade: A
Monday, April 4, 2016
Book 7: Hawkeye, Volume 1: My Life as a Weapon by Matt Fraction
I am not a big comics reader, but I had heard very good things about Matt Fraction's Hawkeye, and so I gave it a shot. This book is a collection of the first five issues of Fraction's Hawkeye run, as well as a Young Avengers issue that focuses on Kate Bishop, who also appears in four of the Hawkeye issues included.
I enjoyed this collection! One of the things I found really interesting was comparing the art; the first three issues were drawn by David Aja, and the fourth and five issues were drawn by Javier Pulido. It definitely informed how I saw the characters and their world, and made me think more about the interplay between the story and the art in comics. I'm currently in the middle of reading a very dense (but good) novel, and reading this was a lovely break from it, bite-sized complete narratives that connected to each other and are clearly building something larger. I don't know if I'm going to read more of this run, but I'm glad I read this volume of it, at least.
Grade: B
I enjoyed this collection! One of the things I found really interesting was comparing the art; the first three issues were drawn by David Aja, and the fourth and five issues were drawn by Javier Pulido. It definitely informed how I saw the characters and their world, and made me think more about the interplay between the story and the art in comics. I'm currently in the middle of reading a very dense (but good) novel, and reading this was a lovely break from it, bite-sized complete narratives that connected to each other and are clearly building something larger. I don't know if I'm going to read more of this run, but I'm glad I read this volume of it, at least.
Grade: B
Book 6: The Truth As He Knows It by A.M. Arthur
Okay, given that I didn't particularly like either of the other two books by this author, I probably should have just thrown in the towel and not read this one at all. But it involves some of my favorite romance novel tropes (sad stripper with low self esteem finds love and self-worth) and also I am very very stubborn, so I read it anyway. That was a mistake.
This book suffered from the same issue as Cost of Repairs where I have no idea why the main characters are interested in each other beyond the fact that they're both gay and they've both experienced huge amounts of trauma in their lives. I thought the writing itself was stronger in this book than in Cost of Repairs, but the backstory trauma was worse, which takes some doing, believe you me. I don't automatically avoid books that involve serious topics like child abuse or sexual assault or gay bashing, but I don't enjoy reading books that use them as plot devices like this one did.
Grade: D
This book suffered from the same issue as Cost of Repairs where I have no idea why the main characters are interested in each other beyond the fact that they're both gay and they've both experienced huge amounts of trauma in their lives. I thought the writing itself was stronger in this book than in Cost of Repairs, but the backstory trauma was worse, which takes some doing, believe you me. I don't automatically avoid books that involve serious topics like child abuse or sexual assault or gay bashing, but I don't enjoy reading books that use them as plot devices like this one did.
Grade: D
Book 5: Acts of Faith by A.M. Arthur
This is a sequel to Cost of Repairs, which I was not a fan of. However, I had already purchased this book, and it was both a Christmas story and concluded the one plot arc of Cost of Repairs that I was engaged by, so I gave it a shot.
Overall, I liked it quite a bit more than Cost of Repairs. The story focused on Rey and Samuel gaining custody of Rey's daughter, who had been taken from him by his ex-wife's parents because drama. So it was about the three of them becoming a family and it was about them having their first Christmas together, and both of those plots are basically catnip for me. Plus, I found Rey and Samuel much more compelling once they were an established couple and I could just accept that they were made for each other rather than wonder why exactly that was the case.
There's a pretty heavy-handed jealousy subplot that felt forced to me, and Samuel's migraines and the conflicts between Rey and Samuel as they figured out being parents together were both handled oddly, but in the end the tropes carried the day for me.
Grade: C
Overall, I liked it quite a bit more than Cost of Repairs. The story focused on Rey and Samuel gaining custody of Rey's daughter, who had been taken from him by his ex-wife's parents because drama. So it was about the three of them becoming a family and it was about them having their first Christmas together, and both of those plots are basically catnip for me. Plus, I found Rey and Samuel much more compelling once they were an established couple and I could just accept that they were made for each other rather than wonder why exactly that was the case.
There's a pretty heavy-handed jealousy subplot that felt forced to me, and Samuel's migraines and the conflicts between Rey and Samuel as they figured out being parents together were both handled oddly, but in the end the tropes carried the day for me.
Grade: C
Book 4: Cost of Repairs by A.M. Arthur
I did not enjoy this book.
I thought this book was going to be a fun m/m romance about a cop who had moved to a new town looking for a fresh start falling for a local guy who was a bit down on his luck but working hard to change his life. Instead, it was about unending traumatic backstories and "but wait, there's more!" levels of melodrama. And listen, I am not against soap opera narratives! I don't need my romance novels to be super realistic, plot-wise. But what I do need is to believe the connection between the two leads, and that didn't happened for me in this book. Samuel and Rey have an instant chemistry, or so we're told, but I never really understood why either one of them would be interested in dealing with the other person's baggage, given that they each had a truckload of their own. So this book was not for me, I'm afraid.
Grade: D
I thought this book was going to be a fun m/m romance about a cop who had moved to a new town looking for a fresh start falling for a local guy who was a bit down on his luck but working hard to change his life. Instead, it was about unending traumatic backstories and "but wait, there's more!" levels of melodrama. And listen, I am not against soap opera narratives! I don't need my romance novels to be super realistic, plot-wise. But what I do need is to believe the connection between the two leads, and that didn't happened for me in this book. Samuel and Rey have an instant chemistry, or so we're told, but I never really understood why either one of them would be interested in dealing with the other person's baggage, given that they each had a truckload of their own. So this book was not for me, I'm afraid.
Grade: D
Book 3: The Smell of Other People's Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock
I loved this book. I was not expecting to; it was a book I read for my book club and I knew nothing about it before I bought it, and I was very grumpy while reading the first 75 pages of it. But then it hit home.
This is a YA novel about four teenagers living in Alaska in the early 1970's. The book shifts POV chapter by chapter, and the first three chapters felt almost unbearably bleak and sad to me. I spent a lot of time in my twenties reading beautifully written books about miserable people living miserable lives, and I don't want to do that anymore. I was very concerned that this would be another one of those kinds of books.
Instead, the book slowly begins to reveal the connections between the four characters, and the entire story braids itself together, with a bit of magical realism to tie off the loose ends. There is still sadness and tragedy, but the hope that is woven through each of their stories feels both necessary and earned, in the end. And the writing is incredibly lovely all the way through; I know very little about Alaska, but the surety of the writing made me trust this depiction implicitly. Also, the title fits the novel perfectly in a way that not many titles do.
I went into this book expecting to slog through it for my book group and instead I ended up crying (from happiness) over the end. Who knew.
Grade: A
This is a YA novel about four teenagers living in Alaska in the early 1970's. The book shifts POV chapter by chapter, and the first three chapters felt almost unbearably bleak and sad to me. I spent a lot of time in my twenties reading beautifully written books about miserable people living miserable lives, and I don't want to do that anymore. I was very concerned that this would be another one of those kinds of books.
Instead, the book slowly begins to reveal the connections between the four characters, and the entire story braids itself together, with a bit of magical realism to tie off the loose ends. There is still sadness and tragedy, but the hope that is woven through each of their stories feels both necessary and earned, in the end. And the writing is incredibly lovely all the way through; I know very little about Alaska, but the surety of the writing made me trust this depiction implicitly. Also, the title fits the novel perfectly in a way that not many titles do.
I went into this book expecting to slog through it for my book group and instead I ended up crying (from happiness) over the end. Who knew.
Grade: A
Book 2: The Omega's Pack by Dessa Lux
Note: I know the author of this series socially.
This is the second book in a m/m romance series about werewolves. The first book (The Omega's Bodyguard) tells the story of how the alpha of the titular pack, Rusty, finds and then bonds with his omega mate, Sam, and should definitely be read before reading this one. This book, as you may have guessed from the title, focuses on how Rusty and Sam become a pack with Mike, another alpha, and Nick, a beta. Mike had already become a member of their pack at the end of The Omega's Bodyguard, but Nick is still on his own.
The main plot of The Omega's Pack centers on the new pack essentially staging an intervention for Nick, who suffers from PTSD as a result of injuries he sustained while in the Marines. Basically, the whole werewolf pack structure is a setup for lots of found family and hurt/comfort feelings, all of which I greatly enjoyed. The other thing the werewolf pack structure is a setup for is a whole lot of extremely explicit sex, including threesomes and a full moon orgy.
The first third of the book felt a little unfocused to me, but as soon as Rusty, Sam and Mike head out to help Nick, the entire book clicks into gear. And there's a lovely scene towards the end in which the new pack needs to defend its territory from other werewolves that really establishes the bond that the four of them have with each other, and sets up the next book in the series.
Grade: B
This is the second book in a m/m romance series about werewolves. The first book (The Omega's Bodyguard) tells the story of how the alpha of the titular pack, Rusty, finds and then bonds with his omega mate, Sam, and should definitely be read before reading this one. This book, as you may have guessed from the title, focuses on how Rusty and Sam become a pack with Mike, another alpha, and Nick, a beta. Mike had already become a member of their pack at the end of The Omega's Bodyguard, but Nick is still on his own.
The main plot of The Omega's Pack centers on the new pack essentially staging an intervention for Nick, who suffers from PTSD as a result of injuries he sustained while in the Marines. Basically, the whole werewolf pack structure is a setup for lots of found family and hurt/comfort feelings, all of which I greatly enjoyed. The other thing the werewolf pack structure is a setup for is a whole lot of extremely explicit sex, including threesomes and a full moon orgy.
The first third of the book felt a little unfocused to me, but as soon as Rusty, Sam and Mike head out to help Nick, the entire book clicks into gear. And there's a lovely scene towards the end in which the new pack needs to defend its territory from other werewolves that really establishes the bond that the four of them have with each other, and sets up the next book in the series.
Grade: B
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