Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Thrown to the Wolves
SERIES: Big Bad Wolf #3
AUTHOR: Charlie Adhara
NARRATOR: Erik Bloomquist
PUBLISHER: Tantor Audio
RELEASE DATE: September 10, 2019
LENGTH: 8 hours, 59 minutes
BLURB:
Agent Cooper Dayton is going to meet his boyfriend’s werewolf family. Unarmed. On their turf.
And he’s bringing his cat.
When Agent Cooper Dayton agreed to attend the funeral for Oliver Park’s grandfather, he didn’t know what he was getting into. Turns out, the deceased was the alpha of the most powerful werewolf pack on the eastern seaboard. And his death is highly suspicious. Regardless, Cooper is determined to love and support Park the way Park has been there for him.
But Park left him woefully unprepared for the wolf pack politics and etiquette. Rival packs? A seating order at the dinner table? A mysterious figure named the Shepherd? The worst is that Park didn’t tell his family one key thing about Cooper. Cooper feels two steps behind, and reticent Park is no help.
There are plenty of pack members eager to open up about Park and why Cooper is wrong for him. Their stories make Cooper wonder if he’s holding Park back. But there’s no time to get into it…as lethal tranquilizer darts start to fly, Cooper needs to solve the mystery of the alpha’s death and fight for the man he loves – all before someone else dies.
REVIEW:
If meeting Cooper’s family was intense and frayed with feelings and intrigue, it was nothing compared to meeting Oliver’s family. The intensity level was definitely set to high in this book.
Cooper and Park are going to Parks hometown to attend his grandfather’s funeral. A reunion filled with drama and secrets. And it doesn’t really help matters that Park hasn’t really prepared anyone on the meet. Prepared Cooper for what to expect, the dos and don’ts, the basic hierarchy or even history of the pack. Likewise he hadn’t told anyone in the pack about Cooper – well except that he was bringing him. The surprises and secrets kept coming one after the other, some bigger than others. As if a funeral for the pack leader wasn’t enough, there are new threats to the pack – not the least trespassers looking to expose them. There is also the minor detail of a murderer willing to kill anyone in their way to power.
The title of this book was just perfect. It truly described so much of what was going on here. Not the least the way Cooper was basically just dumped in the middle of the Park pack without any background knowledge or warning of things going on. To say that he often finds himself saying or doing the exact wrong thing is an understatement. But then again, everywhere he turns is lined with mines he couldn’t possibly know to avoid.
At times it felt like Cooper and Park were on shaky ground, and more than once I felt like hitting Park over the head and tell him to just talk and explain things to Cooper. Sure, I can understand that he was afraid of his reaction, afraid that Cooper wouldn’t accept all of him warts and all, but how could they ever hope to last otherwise? Then again, all in all I do love how far Oliver and Cooper have come since they started out and their journey hasn’t ended yet. I loved how they were finally being open and honest with each other. There are still things left to say and share, but they will get there, the walls between them have been torn down.
Narration-wise, Erik Bloomquist nailed it. He made you feel with the characters. Cooper’s anxiety of being confronted by hostile werewolves time and again, his love for Park and his confusion for the myriad of pack politics and rules that he can’t help trample. My favourite part though was the honest conversations between Cooper and Oliver. Raw and emotional, they marked a new beginning of sorts, or a real beginning. It was beautiful and Bloomquist really made those moments come alive like few others.
Thrown to the Wolves brought many answers and a lot of backstory to Park that we’ve been looking for since the first book. There is still much left to explore, especially with the new direction their lives are taking. I’m eager to listen to their next adventure, and just hope that the wait won’t be too long
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
[…] eastern seaboard. And his death is highly suspicious. Regardless, Cooper is determined to love and support Park the way Park has been there for […]