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Review

I LOVED THIS BOOK!
(And in the interests of complete openness, I’m saying right here and now that I am rating and reviewing this book completely disregarding ‘that scene’ – see note below).

The first book in the Phoenix Pack series, I am likening these books to the Black Dagger Brotherhood (which is a HUGE compliment!) except it’s werewolves instead of vampires. And, like the BDB, it appears that each book will focus on a different member of the Enforcers of the Phoenix wolf pack. The key group of guys are introduced in this book, they are all big, badass shifters with unique personalities and I’ve gotta say, I love them all! This book focusses on the pack Alpha – Trey.

Strong, brave and fiercely protective, Trey is emotionally closed off and content with his life. However he gets the shock of his life when he meets his match in latent shifter Taryn (this means she doesn’t actually shift, but her wolf is very much a part of her and therefore dictates her behaviour somewhat). Taryn is the daughter of another pack’s Alpha, she is a bit of a badass herself, and is also the master at snappy comebacks, letting fly at anybody and everybody at every available opportunity…

“Just give me a second. Attempting to give a fuck… Attempting harder to give a fuck… Sorry, there was an error. Fuck not given.”

“Hey, I have a suggestion, why not put a condom over your head – if you’re going to act like a complete dick then it makes sense to dress like one.”

“If I want your opinion, I’ll kick it out of you, okay?”

Entering into a mating of convenience, and all that that entails (read: hot sex… and LOTS of it!) Trey and Taryn find themselves unexpectedly drawn to each other. Both of them have experienced trauma in their pasts, and are still dealing with the fallout, so neither of them want the connection that so clearly exists between them and they both fight hard against it. And with them both being Alphas, there are some sensational battles between them, and some of Taryn’s comebacks were absolutely classic!

“Taryn,” he drawled in an impatient tone, “I am your mate –“
“And I’m stubborn, if you want absolute obedience, get a Labrador.”

“I don’t mind if you want to start ranting just as long as you understand I’ll be ignoring every word”

“Taryn, are you even listening to me?
“I pretended to, so let that be enough”

Told from both Trey and Taryn’s POVs, we spend a lot of time in both of their heads, so you understand exactly what it is that is holding them both back. Thankfully, this stopped me from being annoyed with them, as I knew what both of them were feeling and why, and I accepted their reasoning for behaving the way that they did. But when they stopped fighting and let themselves go, what developed was an intensely beautiful and tender relationship. And with the link between mates being what it is, Trey and Taryn can feel every emotion going through the other. This means that nothing is hidden, and everything they are feeling is right out there in the open. I loved this dynamic, it meant that they had to be entirely honest with each other.

“You’re all there is for me, Taryn. I’m broken baby. You know that. Before you… it was like those bits of me were just scattered all over the place. I’ve never felt whole. Not until you. You hold those pieces together. It’s not an exaggeration when I say you hold my sanity in your hands. Without you, I’d fall apart.”

Running alongside the romance, is the storyline of what actually brought Trey and Taryn to mate in the first place – wolf politics. This simmered away nicely in the background, providing some tension and little bits of action along the way until the heart-pounding finale that had me glued to my kindle. Sensational stuff!

Suzanne Wright did a fantastic job at setting up an intricate world of shifter lore and politics which kept me intrigued the entire way through. The wolf behaviour, in particular, and how it impacted on and guided their human behaviour and traditions was beautifully written and really well explained. I was easily and completely sucked into the shifter world.

I absolutely loved this book, and can’t wait for more in the series. Next up – Dante!

4.5 stars

Final Note – ‘That Scene’

‘That scene’ refers to a controversial group sex scene in the book. I have included parts of a very spoilery rant that I had on Goodreads while reading so that those who are interested will have some idea what you are in for. Let’s just be clear that I’m not a prude, and it’s not the actual group sex that bothered me, it was the fact that it was unnecessary and completely out of character for both Trey and Taryn to be involved in something like that.

Spoiler

I knew before I started that there was a group sex scene in this book. I figured this would be a scene where they would all be in the same room having sex with their partners – which I thought was weird, but yeah, whatever, it’s a wolf thing. I didn’t expect it to just be Taryn with Trey and all six of his Enforcers! WTF??? Despite the fact that it’s just weird, he’s a fucking Alpha wolf! How can it possibly be in character for him to allow his SIX best mates into bed with them!!!! The guy almost ripped someone’s throat out for just looking at her!! And Taryn is an Alpha wolf, she had a hard enough time opening up sexually to Trey – her mate and the man she loved. No way would she allow herself to be dominated like that. The whole thing just reeks of WRONG!

I have been told that this book will be republished early next year, with this scene removed. In the meantime, if you want to read this book and are concerned, you can easily do it and just skip the scene. As it was, I skimmed it, and it doesn’t impact on anything else that goes on in the story. You can just pretend it never happened! That’s what I’ll be doing if I reread.