Reviewed by Donna
TITLE: Delevan
SERIES: Whitedell Pride #20
AUTHOR: Catherine Lievens
PUBLISHER: Extasy Books
LENGTH: 125 Pages
RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2016
BLURB:
Delevan has seen almost everyone in the pride find their mate and live happily ever after, and he’s tired of waiting for his turn. He might be happier than he’s ever been before, but he’s still missing something, and he wants to find it.
The last thing Blair expected when he moved to Whitedell to train was to meet his mate, and he certainly didn’t expect to be paired to Alpha Dominic Nash’s son. Not only is Blair a bit intimidated by Alpha Nash, but he’s also committed an unpardonable faux pas—before meeting Delevan, he slept with Benjamin, one of the few single pride members.
Before Delevan and Blair manage to dissipate the tension between them, the mole finally reveals himself and puts Delevan’s life in danger. Delevan survives, but how will what happened to him, and the mole’s identity, influence his relationship with Blair? Will Delevan finally find the piece he’s been missing, or will he lose everything to the hunters?
REVIEW:
Delevan is the son of Alpha Dominic, leader of the Whitedell Pride. We first met him way back in book…eight??…when he turned up at the pride mansion, hoping to connect with the father he never knew. That was a year ago, and for that year Delevan has been living amongst the other shifters, watching as one after another found his mate and a love that made each shifter’s life complete. Delevan hungers to find that connection for himself, so when Blair wanders in to pride kitchen and the two men smell “mate” on each other, Delevan doesn’t hesitate to seize onto Blair. The idea that the two men may not stay together never occurs to Delevan, but unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that straight forward to Blair.
This story actually begins by overlapping the timeline from the previous book in the Whitedell Pride series, and if you’ve read that book then you know that something rather unfortunate befalls Delevan. I loved the way the author went back and recovered that incident from the perspective of Delevan and Blair considering they were the main people involved. I felt myself tense up as I recognized what was about to happen, even though I knew it would all be okay in the end.
The romance between Blair and Delevan was all well and good, but what I enjoyed most about this book was the interactions between Blair, Keenan and Nysys. Now, I’m about to say something here that may get me lynched by Whitedell fans, but…as much as I love Keenan and Nysys, sometimes they really skirt the line between entertaining and annoying. (OK, who threw that shoe at me!?) Don’t get me wrong, they’re adorable, but sometimes I find their personalities overwhelm a story and take too much attention from the MCs. However, Blair and Delevan were both strong enough characters that Nysys and Keenan getting so much page time only added to the fun tone of this book.
Yep, that’s right. Somehow, amidst the violence and misunderstandings of this story, there is a distinctly fun feel with this addition to the series which I think was really needed at this point. This is obviously a long series (though it is sadly nearing its end) so I think the author’s ability to switch pace and keep readers interested is worth noting.
The Whitedell Pride series should be read in order (so you’d best get reading!)
RATING: 
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