Reviewed by Vicki
TITLE: The Good Wolf
SERIES: The Lone Wolves Trilogy #1
AUTHOR: Meredith Russell
PUBLISHER: Extasy Books
LENGTH: 149 pages
BLURB:
Ten years ago, Mason fell for his best friend while at university. Little did he know just two years later, that same friend would turn his world upside down in a way Mason could never have imagined. Now, he lives a cursed life. Living in solitude, Mason does everything he can to keep people away, not only for his safety, but for theirs, too.
The night of the full moon.
Niall has no idea he’s a werewolf, but fate brings him and Mason together. A trick of the moon or something deeper, the men are drawn to each other. Together they must find a way to deal with what has happened to them both. But first Mason must learn to trust Niall and realize being alone is not always for the best.
REVIEW:
Mason was quite happy and lusting after his college best friend Kaine, until he is betrayed. By Kaine. Brutally. He then spends the next eight years trying to survive, not even living. He drugs himself, and hides, making no connections to people. He comes across Niall, who is in the same situation, only he’s clueless, and doesn’t really believe Mason. Until he spends a night with Mason and sees for himself. What follows is a slightly disjointed story about Mason and Niall trying to find a way to cure their werewolf affliction.
I love paranormal romance novels, and I’m very fond of werewolves, this one is a bit different. Usually being a werewolf is a positive thing, but for Mason and Niall it is not. They have both been turned against their will, neither knew what was going on at the time. This was a little hard for me to adapt to at first, I do like my werewolves happy! Especially after just reading a book with pack oriented, happy werewolves. But I am willing to accept any story if an author convinces me enough. I can accept the bad side of werewolves, and we certainly see that in this story. So Kaine is a nasty piece of work, he has it in for Mason stalking him until he finds him again after a break, and brings his followers/pack mates with him to help torment Mason.
This time Mason has not only Niall to worry about, but Saskia, a girl that he’s befriended that lives in his building. She has learned about his affliction when Mason rescues her from a couple of guys in a park one night. Saskia has been helping and pestering Mason, then along comes Niall, forcing his way in to Mason’s life as well. He now has people who care about him, that he also feels he needs to protect. He tries a couple of times to get away, but can’t seem to do it. Then some bad stuff happens, there’s a big drama confrontation and it’s all over.
I had a few issues with this book. I’m not sure why Kaine had it in for Mason all these years, it seemed like a lot of effort for no reason. He was certainly the “bad guy” of the story, but I couldn’t get his motivation. The solution didn’t work for me, I understood what they expected to do from the drawing Mason found, but that isn’t what happened. I didn’t get why it kinda worked but not really (trying to avoid spoilers here!) I saw no emotional connection between Mason and Niall until the very end of the story. It felt like Mason didn’t have any interest in Niall, and Niall just wanted a cure. There was no romance, no words of love, no passion, and very little sex. Until after all of the drama was over, then there was a bit of sex and a happy ending. Then I could see the connection, but I wish it had been clearer earlier. I didn’t really care if they got together or not, until the very end.
So I guess I liked the book, but didn’t love it. I never connected with the characters, Mason was too cold, and we never got much background with Niall so I didn’t care much about him. Saskia was odd and annoying at times. The plot was hit and miss for me, it had potential but never really got my full interest. Kaine had the potential to be a decent bad guy, if I had understood his motivation I may have appreciated him more, and the story all together. I also prefer more of an emotional connection, more romance, and more sex in my books. But it did have a happy ending!
RATING: 