Monday, September 10, 2018

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All opinions still remain my own.

Review: Wolf Rising by Paige Tyler

Title: Wolf Rising
Series: SWAT: Special Wolf Alpha Team
Author: Paige Tyler
Read copy: eBook (Kindle)
Published: October 30, 2018
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
ASIN: B07DX4Q8KG

Just when he's found The One...he might lose her.

SWAT Officer Jayden Brooks doesn't believe there's a soul mate out there for him—The One. But when he saves high school teacher Selena Rosa from a hostage situation, he knows he's in big trouble. Her scent is irresistible.

Selena finds the big cop irresistible, too. In fact, the buttoned-up teacher gets a little carried away—during a steamy make-out session, she bites him. Turns out, the traumatizing events at the school triggered her werewolf gene. Fangs and claws are appearing and her aggression is out of control. The change is happening, and Selena doesn't understand.

It's going to take everything Brooks has to pull her back from the edge...and ultimately win her heart.


My rating:

***ARC provided by publisher through NetGalley***

SWAT Officer Jayden Brooks has his hands full. First, he has to keep his recently injured pack member, Zane, from possibly quitting and leaving the pack. Second, he has to deal with a locked-up werewolf hunter wanting to share information. Then there's the new drug lord in town cleaning up the gangs and selling his drugs in the form of energy drinks...Brooks certainly doesn't have time for a woman, even though she might prove to be the elusive The One.

Unfortunately, he hasn't much say in the matter, since first he has to save her from getting shot by a gangbanger...And then they both have to deal with the pesky little detail that she's obviously turning into a werewolf.


Having read the blurb, I was really looking forward to this story, especially once it was known Brooks's mate is an Omega. Unfortunately, the book ended up being quite a disappointment.

I still liked the action sequences; the drug busts, the saving of hostages and even the full-on assault on the SWAT compound (though those hunters are becoming rather boring). It was the romance that left me cold and severely slowed the pacing of the book.

Is it just me, or are the situations between SWAT members and their Ones starting to be repetitive? They meet under stressful situations, she either turns into a werewolf because of it or remains human, they have sex, he tells her the truth about him (and possibly her), she bolts, talks to whomever happens to pass by at the moment and blurts everything, then she's in danger and calls the werewolf, they make up, have some more sex, someone attacks them, and they all have the BBQ at the end.
It's always a variation on the same theme, and though sometimes the variation is rather nicely developed, this one came across as generic template.

I didn't particularly like the heroine. I didn't dislike her, but I didn't like her either. I felt as if Brooks was relegated to the role of window dressing on this one, since everything turned out to be about Selena (ending up in a slight retcon as to just what sort of werewolf one of the SWAT is—rather convenient, if you ask me)...Their romance was simply meh, but it did slow the pacing down.

I ended up skimming their scenes together and concentrated more on the action sequences. Which were also rather repetitive, but at least something happened. And the mole inside the DPD was so obvious, it was painful.

The slight foreshadowing at the end sent my teeth on edge as well with the newest member of the SWAT team, Rachel, letting one of the hunters go after both of them staring at each other strangely (although the fact she might mate with one of the hunters does offer quite a few nice plot possibilities and bucket-full of angst).
I do hope, Zane's story is next, though. Maybe he'll meet a nice California girl/werewolf while on assignment. He sure deserved a happy end.



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