Reviewed by Donna
TITLE: Ani
SERIES: Whitedell Pride #7
AUTHOR: Catherine Lievens
PUBLISHER: Extasy Books
LENGTH: 128 Pages
BLURB:
It’s hard to finally get over hurt and fear and decide to embrace life again.
Ani’s life hasn’t been easy. He’s been under the thumb of his tribe’s second for all his life, and it has left him thinking he’s broken and soiled. So why did Fate decide he would be the best mate for the Whitedell pride’s Alpha? Ani knows he’s not good enough, and he avoids his mate as best as he can.
Dominic doesn’t care about what happened in Ani’s past, he just knows he wants the man to be his. He knows he’s going to have to fight Ani every step of the way, but he’s as stubborn as they come, so it doesn’t scare him. Dominic has to convince Ani that he wants him, but he also has to work on a council that will rule shifters and fight against the Glass Research Company.
As if Dominic didn’t have enough problems, a man appears and shakes his budding relationship with Ani. Will their mating be able to survive all the obstacles they’ll have to brave?
REVIEW:
Normally I’m all over the Whitedell Pride books as soon as they’re released (1st of every month without fail), but I’m a little late to the game with this one. I’ll admit, I did read it the moment it appeared in my inbox, but I’ve been away on holiday so this month I’m reviewing book #7 a month after the release. I think that this is the first time with this series that I’ve been able to see what other readers are saying about the book before I write my own review and I was surprised to find that I had such a different view. Not so much in relation to the rating, but in the stated or implied opinion that Ani is not the best Whitedell Pride story so far. Because this is easily my favourite of the first eight books. I didn’t even have to think about it.
I’ve been anticipating Dominic’s story from the moment we met the pride’s alpha back in book one. He first met his mate in book number four and we’ve been getting glimpses of his careful wooing of Ani throughout the last few stories. But not only does Dominic have to work hard to calm his mate’s fears, he’s also busy dealing with an ever growing pride. In fact, the pride’s numbers have begun multiplying so rapidly with all of the different shifters they’ve rescued that Dominic is finding he has no time for encouraging Ani. Little does he realize that Ani moved past being afraid of him months ago.
Ani would love to take his place as Dominic’s mate, but that would make him the alpha-mate, and he knows that he could never pull that off. Not only does he see himself as “used” after being raped by his previous leader over a four year period but he can’t even read well. He just knows that Dominic will end up embarrassed by such a poor excuse for an alpha-mate. But Dominic’s gentle courtship has worn down Ani’s resistance and it doesn’t take long before the alpha lion and the little Nix are together.
Firstly, oh my goodness, this book was hot. So far with this series the sex hasn’t particularly stood out for me. There hasn’t been anything wrong with it, but at the same time it never made me sit back and think – wow. Ani and Dominic had some amazing chemistry between them. But the book wasn’t just hot, it was also sweet. The little notes that Dominic leaves around the house for Ani to find just made me want to hug the big kitty cat. And the way Ani’s confidence grew as the story progressed, all because of Dominic’s love and support, well I just needed to hug him some more. Dominic really is my ideal alpha character, using his “alpha power” for good rather than to further an assholish agenda.
But the two main characters aren’t the reason this book is my favourite. Nope. The reason this book is awesome above all others (so far) is because of the Council. Now I believe the council of shifters that Dominic was attempting to set up has been mentioned in a couple of stories now (maybe?) but it was finally formed in this particular book. As much as I’ve been enjoying this series I think it reached a point where it needed something more. Not so much to change the direction of the series but to offer an alternative tangent that could be explored in some of the future books. And that is exactly what the Council provided.
At the same time, the author has served up some interesting new shifters for us to anticipate. My two personal favourites were the komodo dragon and the great white shark. I would freakin’ LOVE a shifter story about a shark! So here’s hoping. Lastly we’re given a new Nix character to love. Nysys Adim. And though I feel somewhat traitorous admitting it, I think he may end up rivaling Keenan as my favourite character of the series.
And my usual warning – you must read the series in order or confusion will prevail.
RATING: 
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