The Strength of the Pack

Second read April 13, 2017:

Loved this as much as the first time. The intensity, the passion, the world-building, the action, the sex, the Dominant-True Alpha dynamic--I adore it all with all of my heart.

First read May 16, 2015:

Absolutely loved this; my new favorite shifter book!

-->It was unexpected
-->Totally logical in its explanations of their Alpha-Dominant bond (and what a new and awesome angle to take on a shifter romance!)
-->Really encompassing military scenes and atmosphere (just what I was looking for)
-->An intense sense of place
-->Explanations for historical people/happenings that I actually like better than our real ones ;D
-->A lot of sweet scenes, especially instigated by a certain Alpha who now colors my ideal of the show more sub-genre
-->And a perfect set up for the the sequels

In fact, I want to go back to the beginning and read it again for the first time again right now. Damn it.

The only part of the book that I got annoyed at was the fact that it was a simple lack of communication that caused the emotional issues they faced at the end...I mean, one honest conversation would have nipped that all in the bud...but that still didn't detract all that much from my enjoyment the story.

I loved, too, that the sex was so, so explosively hot (more so than I've read in memory), but for the longest time it was just hand jobs! I loved that they stuck to their desires and waited until returning home for everything else. The physical aspect of their relationship was rendered perfectly.

So yeah, I'm pretty much in LOVE. show less

I'll admit this book surprised me. Why? Well, I suppose for starters I was expecting a fairly traditional shifters tale. Did I get that? Definitely not. There wasn't the typical "mate" identification. There wasn't the instant bond/link/understanding that seems to be so stereotypical of this genre. There were also other differences in the whole that made this book hard to put down.

Was it perfect? Well, no. There were a few instances where I honestly asked myself WTF? But that was overridden by the fantastic descriptions of the locations, the additional details in the extra characters in the story and the detail in which the military aspect was told. Add to that the hot, super sexy MC's, the sinfully hot encounters between them and you show more can see why I'm so happy with this book. show less

I'm going out on a limb again and I'm gonna say this is one of the best, if not THE best, shifter story I have ever read. Maybe because it was so different than the usual shifter story? I don't know. I just know that it was riveting and heartfelt and I absolutely fucking loved it.

If you like military stories, big, beautiful men in uniform, werewolves who don't need insta-love to find a mate, realistic battle scenes and a fast paced storyline along with a heartwarming lovestory, read this book! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Fuck Yeah!

Upped to 5 stars per resolution.

synopsis:
lucas has never dealt a lot with shifters, but his platoon is augmented with shifters, and then he gets the true alpha of the marine pack. lucas doesn't know how to deal with him, and his commanding officer doesn't really provide support, so lucas does what he can to be dominant but understanding. he doesn't understand his reaction to noah, the true alpha. as the two get to know one another in combat situation, lucas has to overcome his human sensibilities and realize that wolves think and react differently.

what i liked: i liked noah and lucas together. i liked that lucas was willing to learn and didn't think that he knew everything about wolves. i liked that wolves were not a secret society, and show more i liked the relationship between humans and wolves. i liked that noah was so protective, and i liked the build in relationship between all the characters, not just lucas and noah. i liked the story and how the strengths of the characters shone through.

what i didn't like: the commas. oh, my, goodness, the, commas. so, many, unecessary, commas. just ridiculous. i would usually put this in the editing/grammar section of my review, but it really is the only thing that stopped me from rating this 4.5 stars or higher because it annoyed me so much show less

Ok, I loved this book! I liked the pacing, the military actions seemed accurate enough.

The military seemed strangely open to gay sex, but this almost seemed set in the future, weres are out, so the culture is a bit different. I rather liked that. A few things:

1. There is a lot sexual scenes. It did not bother me, but toward the end I did skim.
2. We only see Lucas' perspective. I would have liked to have seen our wolf's.
3. Lucas seems to be a little slow to realize things. I love how slowly we discover things (thus why we only see Lucas' perspective). But he really should have caught on sooner.


Overall, I loved the book. It seemed a bit pricey to me at 9 bucks, and for a new author it was a risk. But I really enjoyed the writing style. I show more will check out more! show less

4,5 stars.
One of the best m/m werewolf/shifter stories I have read yet.
It had an interesting twist to the whole mating story line, and avoided insta-love or any kind of forced feelings. The sexual tension was slow burn and worked really well for the whole story.
Well, a well written plot, tough werewolf-marines falling for each other, a True Alpha who looks like a nordic good...not much more to ask for a great and enjoyable read.
I very much hope that this becomes a series :-)