Spiral of Need

Spiral of Need is my first novel written by Suzanne Wright, and it was better than I expected. The hero and heroine are very well drawn. They work perfectly together and lift each other up. The outside antagonists weren’t really scary, just bitchy, and a lot of the plot was confusing to me until it was all explained at the end.

My favorite part: The sex scenes are unbelievable and worth the cost of the book all on their own. Hot doesn’t begin to cover it.

My least favorite part: So many characters! I guess the author is stacking the cast with characters for future books, but there were so many names with no distinctions or personalities attached, I actually forgot the h/h’s names the last half of the book.

This is mainly werewolf porn. Well, not surprising considering the title and the author. The story there is predictable and simple but surprisingly neither are there major flaws in reasoning or character personality nor lazy plot tropes.
The relevant characters don't feel two-dimensional, flat or like caricatures of themselves which is usually a major flaw in this kind of book.
I appreciate that a lot even if most of the book consists of smut which is a bit much but I guess its erotica, so... well... Come on, Anal to progress the mate bond? I don't know what to say to that. The mate bond thing there felt so... unnecessary.
Internal consistency and believability of characters are very important to me.
I am pointing out and praising these show more things because I am surprised in this case as other books by Suzanne Wright suffered badly from a lot of flaws like that.
Some pet peeve of mine was the endearment "Baby". I hate it. It's used excessively and I... just hate it. Well, no point in fighting over personal taste I guess.
So, in conclusion, it exceeded my expectations by far but at the end of the day, it's still just a very simple tale of possessive werewolves leaving their past behind and finding their place and a LOT of smut. show less

As a con, way too much bedroom scenes that are long and not my thing - too much as is typical for these
But on the other hand for this type of book I liked the writing for the regular scenes, the characters - including minor - the pack details, the mystery with the villainry, and it stayed interesting enough. I generally don't enjoy switching POV paranormal romance but this one was less painful in that aspect than others. I may read more of the series later but skimming some of the painful erotica scenes as that's not my thing otherwise.

I liked this more than I expected to. Which doesn't mean it instantly added its series to my list of Needs to Be Tracked Down and Read Thoroughly, but still – it was quite readable. Considering it was a Netgalley offering I waffled over for a few minutes, hesitated, hemmed and hawed, and clicked "request" – and then instantly repented – it's more than I expected.

The characters were a bit on the stereotypical side – Ally, the wolf shifter with extra gifts and giving no … er, damns, Cain the ditto with a painful past, a wounded present, and a generally badass attitude which I can't believe most non-fictional non-werewolf women would find in any way attractive outside a romance or PNR (but he's hot!)… The plot was not bad, show more with Ally leaving her former pack and being taken in temporarily by a new one (Cain's, of course), having to prove herself and make them prove themselves, and then being blamed for/caught up in attacks on this new pack.

This was the first in its series, but apparently the new series is an offshoot of another, so the disadvantages I tried to avoid by choosing "The Mercury Pack #1" were still in evidence: a whole setting and cast of characters that were new to me but not to readers of this author. I do try to avoid books from later in an unfamiliar series, because it's hard to judge how good an author's exposition is when she's depending on readers having some grounding in her work. Here, however, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect things to be explained pretty thoroughly … and the author did a decent job. I never felt completely lost. A bit confused here and there, but never lost.

One aspect to the world that confused me was this author's version of a pack alpha. Apparently alphas among these shifters are very different from actual wolves, as far as I know. Example: "Derren’s old pack, where Nick had once been Alpha before forming the Mercury Pack". Why would an Alpha form a new pack? And the Alpha of Ally's old pack struck me as kind of an awful, unlikely example, hemming and hawing worse than I did over choosing this book, nervous and twitchy, easily dictated to by others. Not exactly authoritative.

The writing was … fine. There was an excessive amount of profanity – I'm not sure why it was necessary for not only the characters to swear constantly but for various and sundry pungent cuss-words to lace thorugh the narration. "Feeling Derren’s anger so intensely, tasting it in her mouth, it was hard for Ally not to let it feed her own ire and make her lose her shit." I can use more than my share of "colorful metaphor" (see STIV), but this I found off-putting.

The main thing I found frustrating, though, was what might be seen as a lack of follow-through in using the characters' enhanced senses and abilities. Ally tells someone she's aware they loathe her, to which the other responds "That's not true." Yeah, thing is, Ally's empathic, so if she gets loathing off someone, there's loathing, undeniable. The person doing the loathing was aware of her empathy, so … why bother lying? One small thing I noted was that someone went into a conflict with "claws unsheathed" … which … wolves' claws don't retract. I suppose this meant that the person's hands were partially shifted, but I don't know.

And if I had been told that to Ally Cain smelled like "oak bark, Brazilian coffee beans, and seriously hot sex", I would have thrown the book against the wall – and then I would have had to try billing the author to replace my Kindle.

Even more aggravating was the basic "you people need to talk to each other" trope of romance novels. Cain and Ally spar and spat and fuss and bother, draw together and yank apart, and I just kept sighing. "Just SAY it. You're mated. Just, someone, for heaven's sake SAY IT."

This take on the wolf mentality did not endear any of the characters to me. They did not make the book unreadable, but they certainly didn't engage me enough to ever really want to spend any more time with them. I've already touched on the main two; additionally, there was evidence that most of them weren't exactly the sharpest knives in their respective drawers. Example: Ally is in a one-on-one fight with someone who would rather like to kill her, and her supporters (yes, Ally's allies – this is a strong argument for spelling the name "Allie" rather than "Ally") call out encouragement and insults – and end up distracting her, to the point that she is injured. It would have been funny, allies becoming a hindrance (or Ally's concentration being fragile enough to be broken by the heckling), if it hadn't been a serious situation.

The book ended on a disquieting note, as a pair of prisoners taken by this pack are brought out of their holding cell, and "both … had nothing but tufts left of their hair". Now, the two people in question did horrible things, committed terrible betrayals, and so on, and a couple of individuals in the pack took this extra step off their own bats, hacking the prisoners' hair off (taking scalp as well in spots). It's disturbing in and of itself – a violation of the Geneva Convention, if you will … but what bothered me most was the echo of Nazi treatment of people entering concentration camps. These prisoners, like those, were destined to die; there was no excuse for the extra degradation. No, I didn't like these people much. I won't be revisiting their world anytime soon.

The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review, thank you. show less

This could be read as a standalone, but I recommend reading the Phoenix Pack books before jumping into this. The first book is Feral Sins.

Warning:
This book is meant for adults. I do not recommend reading this while alone. Have your boyfriend, girlfriend, and/or vibrator handy, this author rocks the sex scene and stuffed this book full of smoking hot, drool worthy men!

Book Blurb (Amazon):
Ally Marshall isn’t just a wolf shifter—she’s a Seer. But a girl doesn’t exactly need special powers to know that Derren Hudson despises her entire kind. Disdain practically rolls off the Beta of the Mercury Pack…disdain mixed with a healthy dose of desire. And no matter how much the ruggedly handsome male appeals to her, this is one call of show more the wild she’s determined to ignore.

After one betrayal too many, Derren doesn’t have much use for Seers—except for Ally. Forced into acting as her protector, he finds himself intensely and passionately drawn to the woman who incites his primal instinct to claim. And when enemies target the pack, Ally’s gift may be just what the Mercury Pack needs. Can he put his distrust aside, or will he force himself to turn his back on the one woman who makes his inner beast howl?

My thoughts
This was fun. Like the rest of Wright's shifter books, there is A LOT OF SMOKING HOT SEX, and I mean HOT! The tension between the two main characters is great. I liked Ally's character. She is funny, smart, independent, and tough. Darren is just, let me grab my fan, WOW! That is all I will say about him. I don't think I am allowed to post what I want to say about him, or what I want to do to him. ;)

There is quite a bit of action in this book and the scenes were easy to follow. These shifters are tough and don't back down from a fight. They are very protective of their pack and mates, yes mates, but not the insta hump, bump, then bond type. It is a mating that gradually grows.

There are a lot of books featuring shifters, and Wright's books are amungst my favorites. I recommend this to anyone who is a fan of the genre.

The above opinions are my own. Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing this book. show less

Mercury Pack Beta Derren Hudson, must protect wolf shifter/Seer, Ally Marshall. Due to a betrayal in the past, he loathes Seers, but he also has a difficult time denying his desire for her.

Suzanne Wright’s Spiral of Need is a tremendous start to The Mercury Pack Series, as well as an excellent spin-off of the Phoenix Pack.

Ally is a worthy heroine. She is treated poorly by her previous pack. Now she is under the protection of The Mercury Pack that has had a bad experience with Seers, and they do not trust her. She is constantly battling prejudgment. Despite that, she is a good person that does the right thing.

It is understandable why Derren does not like Seers. However, being a man of his word, he commits to helping Ally. For the show more first time, Derren and his wolf are attracted to the same female. I love that he faces his past, and that he is loyal.

I still love Roni and Eli’s pranks. Those siblings are a riot. Plus, Ronnie’s out of the blue statements never get old.

The plot was mysterious and well executed. So many things happened that kept this story interesting. I love how so many people grew in this story. I also appreciated that the Mercury Pack became more accepting of Ally as they got to know her. I loved Spiral of Need and am looking forward to the next book in the series.

Complimentary copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. show less

I couldn't imagine starting The Mercury Pack series without having read and knowing the ins and outs of all the characters from The Phoenix Pack series, so please do yourself the favor and start out reading the 4 books from The Phoenix Pack series before diving into SPIRAL OF NEED. You will meet the characters, learn their roles, follow their relationships and know so much more about the world that both series take place in. You will not be sorry and you will enjoy SPIRAL OF NEED so much more for it.

Derren quickly became a character I cared about and was rooting. When I saw that SPIRAL OF NEED would feature his love story I may have done a happy dance. I knew his story wasn't going to be easy, but I was really surprised by his growth show more during SPIRAL OF NEED. He changed his ways of thinking and really became quite a teddy bear when it came to Ally. I knew he was a loyal character and I probably shouldn't have been shocked, but I know it's hard to change your feelings on something when you feel so strongly about it. We meet Ally for the first time in SPIRAL OF NEED and find out very quickly what she is made of. She gets the raw deal with the pack she is in and the Mercury pack does a great job of embracing her once they realize what a great person she is. It takes a little bit, but they get there and that is what matters in the end. Their attraction is pretty electric and they make an awesome couple. I loved seeing both of them in action both in and outside of their relationship.

One of the great things about this series is that we get to see all the past couples and pack members on a regular basis. I loved watching both the Mercury pack and the Phoenix pack come together when it was needed. They really act like one pack, but their too stubborn to admit it. The Phoenix Pack series quickly became one of my fave paranormal romance series and now The Mercury Pack series is right beside it on my list. I look forward to seeing what comes next for both and plan to continue reading both series in order as they come out.

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. show less