Shiarra is on the cusp of taking a big step – finally signing the contract between herself and Chaz that would formalise their relationship between a Human and an Other. Before doing so, she’s taking a romantic getaway with him to a camp site to spend some quality time togetherAnd with his pack. While not as romantic as being alone, it does give her chance to get to know the pack and see Chaz around them. And find that while many hail her as a hero, not everyone is happy with the Alpha’s human girlfriend or her connections with vampires. Then there’s some pack politics to handle as well and…Then all hell breaks loose. The holiday’s over, Shiarra’s running into hiding, but not happy to stay there. She’s plotting vengeance.This is a book of two halves. Actually, worse than that, this is a book of about 60%/40%.In the first 60% of the book I was severely losing my patience with it and kind of wondering what the point was. Shiarra is going on holiday with the Sunstriker pack during the full moon to get used to them, befriend them and, perhaps, take her relationship to the next level with her boyfriend Chaz.This involved just hanging around, eating, drinking and enjoying the views. Chaz spent a substantial amount of time away from her dealing with various issues. She had some vague interactions with the pack that didn’t really go anywhere or really establish any characters (quickly forgot most of their names). There was a Mean Girl werewolf who hated Shiarra for random reasons but Shiarra pulled out some badassery to make her back down – so that petered off. I spent a lot of time wondering what the point was. If she was furthering her relationship with Chaz, I expected that relationship to develop. If she was forming bonds with the pack, I expected her to do so and spend time with them and develop some relationships. Neither really happened.Then there were random sidequests. Seth and his teenaged minions challenged Chaz and were slapped down easily. End of. Was it supposed to be foreshadowing of Chaz’s true nature? Because it’s kinds of what I expected any way. In fact, the whole “revelation” to Shiarra that Chaz could be both violent in the face of rebellion and that he was politically minded seemed rather convoluted. Chaz is the Alpha of the third largest werewolf pack in the area, he commands 50-60 werewolves – surely being willing to fight down revolutions and being politically minded are assumed elements of the job? So it just kind of happened and then went awayRead More
