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Reviewed by Roberta

TITLE: In Your Eyes

SERIES: The Mates Series

AUTHOR: Cardeno C.

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 200 Pages

BLURB:

A Book in the Mates Series

Raised to become Alpha of the Yafenack pack, Samuel Goodwin dedicates his life to studying shifter laws, strengthening his body, and learning from his father. Taking control comes easily to Samuel, but relating to people, including those he’s supposed to lead, is a constant challenge.

When Samuel meets Korban Keller, the son of a neighboring pack’s Alpha, he reacts with emotion instead of intellect for the first time in his life. Resenting the other shifter for putting him off-balance, Samuel first tries to intimidate Korban and then tries to avoid him. What he can’t do is forget Korban’s warm eyes, easy smile, and happy personality.

When a battle between their fathers results in tragedy, Samuel and Korban are thrown together. With his world crashing down around him, Samuel must save his pack and show them he can lead. But first, Korban needs to save Samuel by inspiring him to feel. Two very different men with a tumultuous history must overcome challenges from all sides and see past the rules they’ve been taught to realize they are destined to fit together.

REVIEW:

I love Cardeno C’s books and I’ve read her other Mates books.  I really was looking forward to this book.

We start off with meeting Samuel when he was young.  Samuel is always so intent on being the next Alpha for the Yafenack pack and doing a great job.  He idolizes his father and wants to do a good job as well.  His father tries to teach him as much as possible on being a good leader.  However, Samuel is so into his studies and is so literal that he doesn’t always gets what his father is saying.  Samuel is this interestingly complex character.  You are getting his POV in the story and sometimes, I’ll admit I wanted to smack him as he couldn’t see the forest for the trees.  Samuel is also having the small issue of not tying with someone (ie sleeping with someone to balance out his wolf/human sides) and his wolf half is getting stronger and stronger and not wanting to shift back.  Samuel goes through such changes that it was actually great to watch.  He’s so confused and when things start to fall into place for him, it was really great to watch.  Samuel is so literal and it’s hard for him to get the basic human interactions.  It was hard to watch this poor guy go through all his life not really understanding this and yet, to watch him finally put it all together and become the Alpha that he was always destined to be was really awesome.

Korban on the other hand is the easy going character.  The light to Samuel’s dark.  Korban is this great character who has known all along that Samuel was his true mate and that they would be together.  Korban knew that Samuel would be a great Alpha and that he’d willingly give up his right to be the next Alpha of his pack in order to be there for his mate.  I loved that Korban’s issue with his wolf was the opposite of Samuel’s.  He had a hard time shifting into his wolf.  Korban is so kind and loving and so giving.  Korban just wanted to be with his mate and help him be the very best that he could be.  I loved Korban’s generosity.  He was just so wonderful.  I really liked his character.

There was a bit of mystery and suspense in this book as well.  The death of Samuel’s father.  That hurt me.  Samuel’s father was this really great man who loved his family and loved his pack.  His death was so very hard to take.  To see a good man die for such pettiness hurt.  But, he did right by his son.  He gave him the tools in order to make him be the very best Alpha.  That is the very best legacy that he could possibly have.

I will say that there was some really good, hot sex in this book.  I was pleasantly surprised at how Samuel took to being mated to a male.  He was so happy to have this mate who gave of himself and made him want to be a better man.  The sex between these two wasn’t the gratuitous. It was to help cement the bond between them. The way that these two men gave of themselves so very freely, it was so intimate and so beautiful.

This story wasn’t just one of shifters finding their mates, it was also about fighting the preconceived notions of pack history and lore.  It was about finding yourself and standing your ground.  It was truly a beautiful book to watch these two men come together and attempt to make their world a better place.  To lead by example.

So, get ready to go on a wonderful journey and fall for these characters as much as I did.

RATING:

BUY LINKS:

Dreamspinner Press

ARe

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