Reviewed by Carissa
TITLE: Pretty Poison
AUTHOR: Kari Gregg
PUBLISHER: self-published
LENGTH: 147 pages
BLURB:
Deadly poison…or exquisite cure?
Noah fell from an eighth story balcony as a toddler, cracking open his skull and shattering his body. The accident would’ve killed a human, but even shifter blood can’t heal some damage. After the pack recommended a mercy killing, Noah’s family ran. But there’s no outrunning the mating pact formed before Noah’s birth.
Wade, the new alpha, chooses an adult Noah to fulfill the pact. Wade believes the previous alpha was a fool to reject Noah as a weak and inferior wolf, but Noah’s family was wrong to hide him and starve his wolf, too. Human doctors with human medicines are poison to shifter physiology. Now that Noah is fully grown, halting his shift to retain the pins, plates, and bars holding him together hurts rather than helps him, and for Wade, more than Noah’s recovery is at stake.
Noah’s family sacrificed everything to keep him alive. Noah will do whatever it takes to save them—including mate with the alpha who is determined to correct past mistakes and defeat old prejudices contaminating the shifter community.
Too bad some still believe Noah is the true poison…and should be culled from the pack for good.
Content Warnings: Dubious consent, shifter knotting/tying, and Nerf gun assassination attempts. Ereaders (and you) may spontaneously combust–-Don’t say I didn’t warn you
REVIEW:
Noah’s family gave up everything to protect him from the city shifters that would have seen him dead after a childhood accident broke his body. But when the new alpha demands that the mating pack with Noah’s family be honored, Noah’s father, brothers, and sister cannot protect him anymore. Bundled off into the city without his family, his clothes, his computer, or the medicine that has kept him functioning–if not well–Noah is terrified that Wade, the alpha, is about to seek one last revenge on his family for ditching the pack and going to human doctors. But then Wade, despite his gruff demeanor and refusal to let any of the human’s poison near him, surprises Noah. And what once looked like at best a chance for the alpha to torture and humiliate him, turns into something different. Something deeper. Something that might just make him whole.
It has been a while since I’ve read a good shifter novel. At least one that wasn’t a re-read pulled from the depths of my kindle. And Pretty Poison, despite a few flaws was a good book, and a fun read.
The Good: I love how mating in this book does not automatically equate to love. There is no love/mating at first sight, it is a conscious choice. And even though attraction does play a part in it, both parties have to be willing to make that bond for it to really work. The idea that it could be one-sided, and that that partner could suffer by the actions of the other, was also a nice touch. It made Noah’s worries a real threat–that Wade would force him to mate, but then refuse to reciprocate, leaving Noah forever attached to the alpha while Wade was free to do as he wished. Trust, love, respect…everything between these two had to be earned, and I like it that way. Relationships shouldn’t be easy and theirs especially needed to be a battle won.
Because we only get Noah’s point of view, there was also a bit of uncertainty as to why Wade was doing what he was doing. And as we go through the story we start to realize that while Wade is no saint, he is honestly doing what he thinks is best. While I would have loved to have seen all of this from Wade’s perspective, I think the single pov lends a needed air of instability to the relationship. As Noah sees it, Wade came into his life, abducted him, removed basically everything that he had leaned on to survive, and then mates with him. A real mating. Noah, and us by association, are confused as how to see this man, and it adds that much needed bit of tension to the story and to Noah and Wade’s relationship.
The Unexpected: Holy m-preg, batman! I so didn’t see that coming. It wasn’t until a few months ago that I really started to get into the idea of male-impregnation. And I’ll admit that most times it does come across as a bit ridiculous. Manly because the body parts needed aren’t exactly in ready supply inside the male form. But, as always, magic and the supernatural allow us to bend certain rules, for our enjoyment and our pleasure. I really liked the idea that male member of this shifting society were able to give birth. One reason is that it deals with the pesky ‘but-you-need-an-heir-so-you-can’t-be-gay’ trope–which is a bit overused (if completely understandable) in a lot of m/m fiction. The other reason is…well I really enjoy watching guys try and figure out how to cope with the idea of birth and child raising. While I am firmly in the not-even-if-I-was-the-last-female-on-earth camp when it comes to the idea of having children, I like reading about how people cope with something that is unexpected and life changing. Though I think that the reasons that Noah insists on having children are a little wonky. Children should happen because you want them…not because it will satisfy some tradition.
The Flaws: Everything was wrapped up in too-nice a bow by the end. There was a lot of freaking out, on everyone’s part, that Noah and Wade’s mating was going to go over like an anthill in the middle of picnic. And while there were some half-hearted attempts at thwarting the mating, it really never affected anything. I think that if you are going to spend a whole book building up a crisis there really needs to be something more than what we were given. I liked Noah’s family’s part in the climax, and thought that was an interesting twist, but…it feels like everyone capitulated way too easily. Didn’t want Wade to tear out any throats, or anything, but it felt like there was too much forgiveness. Maybe? Or that it came too soon, and too easily. It wasn’t horrible, but it left the book feeling slightly unfinished. Which is odd, since it went to great lengths to tie every thread up by the end.
I enjoyed this story, despite my misgivings at the end, and can say I would love to read another story set in this world. From what I can gather it seems like the humans know about the shifters, and it would be fun to see a bit more of the human/shifter politics that have to exist in this world. And, to be honest, I would really love seeing Wade freak out over being a father. That would be just awesome. I like the unique aspects of this shifter world, and while the climax felt a little less climax-y than I would like, the romance (and yes, the very hot sex) made up for a lot of that. Plus a girl could always use a little more biting in her life.
RATING: 