The New Wolf (Building The Pack #1) by RJ Scott (Reviews, Excerpt + Giveaway)
Length: 25,500 words
Cover: Meredith Russell
Blurb
A dangerous lone wolf is intent on destroying the beginnings of a pack and when Connor is attacked and near death, there is only one thing that can save him. A wolf shifter’s bite.
After a hate crime leaves one of them near dead, Veterinarian Josh Nolan and Cop Connor Vincent are starting a new life in Black Creek, a remote town on the edge of the Green Mountains range, Vermont. Josh is taking over his grandfather's practice, and Connor starts a new position with the local sheriff's office. When Connor becomes curious about unsolved crimes going back fifty years he cant know the kind of secrets he begins to unearth. Or the danger that he puts himself and Josh in.
After a hate crime leaves one of them near dead, Veterinarian Josh Nolan and Cop Connor Vincent are starting a new life in Black Creek, a remote town on the edge of the Green Mountains range, Vermont. Josh is taking over his grandfather's practice, and Connor starts a new position with the local sheriff's office. When Connor becomes curious about unsolved crimes going back fifty years he cant know the kind of secrets he begins to unearth. Or the danger that he puts himself and Josh in.
The smell of coffee woke him and he reached across the bed to check for Josh. When he felt empty sheets, he assumed Josh was the one making coffee. His feet hitting the floor sent a sensation of pain up his legs and he cursed under his breath. He had issued a check with Josh that his body couldn’t cash. Either that or he was getting old. Padding into the kitchen, he blearily rubbed his eyes. It seemed they’d slept through the day and it was after nine in the evening. Josh was wearing sweats that hung from his hipbones and in the soft light from the hall, the dark kitchen was casting weird shadows around his lover. Connor had never seen anything so beautiful as Josh leaning against the counter, waiting for the coffee machine to do its thing.
He yawned widely behind a hand and crossed to Josh, cuddling him from behind. Josh tensed in his arms momentarily in surprise. Evidently, he hadn’t expected Connor out of bed yet. Then he relaxed back into Connor’s hold and finally turned in his arms and pulled Connor closer for a hug.
“How you doing?” he asked gently.
“Aching a bit,” Connor answered truthfully. After five years together, Josh could see through Connor like his mom used to be able to do. According to Josh, he could tell when Connor was lying, joking, or any other ing Connor attempted to pull on him.
“You should probably take some more pain meds.” Josh punctuated that with a kiss and, for a second, they stood close and kissed gentle close-mouthed kisses and simply held each other.
“It’s weird,” Connor started. “My thigh is fine, my chest, fine, but I feel like every muscle in me aches, and my joints, my knees, even my damn elbows. Like I’ve pushed too many weights, or run three marathons back to back.”
Josh tugged back a little and, even without being able to see into Josh’s eyes, Connor knew his other half was probably going to mention the unnecessary sex in the hallway. He wasn’t wrong.
“We shouldn’t have done that this morning,” Josh admonished. “You’re not well enough.”
“I was fine. You weren’t complaining.”
Josh huffed a laugh, then turned back to the coffee. Carrying two mugs into the front room, they sat next to each other on the old wide sofa that had come as part of the house.
“I’ll be complaining tomorrow,” Josh deadpanned. “I’m not saying it wasn’t hot, but jeez, look at this.” He wriggled a little and pushed down his sweats to expose his left hipbone and five perfect crescent dents that were red and sore.
“Shit, babe,” Connor snapped immediately. He placed the coffee down, then touched the marks on Josh’s beautiful unblemished skin. “Did I do that?” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to the marks, then sat back up, not knowing what to say. Should he say sorry? Is that what Josh wanted. Why was it so difficult to read Josh’s expression? Normally he could read Josh as easily as he, himself could be read.
“You just don’t know your own strength,” Josh said without accusation. Then he straddled Connor’s lap and buried his face in Connor’s neck. “I fucking loved it,” Josh mumbled.
Connor held him tight and relished the feel of Josh’s skin against his own. “I love you,” he said gently.
“I love you, too,” Josh murmured. “Don’t ever get attacked in the forest again. Okay?”
Connor moved so that more of Josh’s weight rested on him. The feeling of him was exquisite. Then he cuddled hard and made a mental promise never to go into the trees again.
He yawned widely behind a hand and crossed to Josh, cuddling him from behind. Josh tensed in his arms momentarily in surprise. Evidently, he hadn’t expected Connor out of bed yet. Then he relaxed back into Connor’s hold and finally turned in his arms and pulled Connor closer for a hug.
“How you doing?” he asked gently.
“Aching a bit,” Connor answered truthfully. After five years together, Josh could see through Connor like his mom used to be able to do. According to Josh, he could tell when Connor was lying, joking, or any other ing Connor attempted to pull on him.
“You should probably take some more pain meds.” Josh punctuated that with a kiss and, for a second, they stood close and kissed gentle close-mouthed kisses and simply held each other.
“It’s weird,” Connor started. “My thigh is fine, my chest, fine, but I feel like every muscle in me aches, and my joints, my knees, even my damn elbows. Like I’ve pushed too many weights, or run three marathons back to back.”
Josh tugged back a little and, even without being able to see into Josh’s eyes, Connor knew his other half was probably going to mention the unnecessary sex in the hallway. He wasn’t wrong.
“We shouldn’t have done that this morning,” Josh admonished. “You’re not well enough.”
“I was fine. You weren’t complaining.”
Josh huffed a laugh, then turned back to the coffee. Carrying two mugs into the front room, they sat next to each other on the old wide sofa that had come as part of the house.
“I’ll be complaining tomorrow,” Josh deadpanned. “I’m not saying it wasn’t hot, but jeez, look at this.” He wriggled a little and pushed down his sweats to expose his left hipbone and five perfect crescent dents that were red and sore.
“Shit, babe,” Connor snapped immediately. He placed the coffee down, then touched the marks on Josh’s beautiful unblemished skin. “Did I do that?” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to the marks, then sat back up, not knowing what to say. Should he say sorry? Is that what Josh wanted. Why was it so difficult to read Josh’s expression? Normally he could read Josh as easily as he, himself could be read.
“You just don’t know your own strength,” Josh said without accusation. Then he straddled Connor’s lap and buried his face in Connor’s neck. “I fucking loved it,” Josh mumbled.
Connor held him tight and relished the feel of Josh’s skin against his own. “I love you,” he said gently.
“I love you, too,” Josh murmured. “Don’t ever get attacked in the forest again. Okay?”
Connor moved so that more of Josh’s weight rested on him. The feeling of him was exquisite. Then he cuddled hard and made a mental promise never to go into the trees again.
3.5 Stars!
What started out as an intriguing mystery to me sort of fizzled out a bit towards the end. I'm not sure if it was the fact that I had hoped for the mystery surrounding the villain to be drawn out a bit more or what but I kind of felt as if the story was missing something. Since this is the first in a trilogy I'm hoping more will come with book 2.
As for the characters, truth be told I wasn't in love with any of them. This is the story of a well-established couple and I find that I sometimes have trouble connecting with characters that are at this point in their relationship. One of the things I love the most about this author's books is the way she paints a picture of two men meeting and falling in love. With that gone, I was forced to focus more on the what if's of the story as opposed to the couple themselves.
Being a fan of RJ Scott I won't say this wasn't well written or executed. It's a very enjoyable read and the potential for the series is most definitely there. I personally just found it lacking something I wanted and expected as a huge fan of Shifter themes in books.
***Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by the author/publisher for my reading pleasure in hopes of an unbiased opinion, a review was not a requirement.***
3.5 Stars!
Quite liked this, but it was very rushed and ended not entirely satisfyingly, though the author kindly explained why.
This is a tale of a married couple (I got an ARC and there was husband, partner and lover, all used interchangeably, but the author confirms the leads *are* married - yay!) that's moved to what seems like a small place in the middle of a huge wilderness, where one's taken over his granddad's veterinary practice and the other's taken a position as a small town cop.
They seem happy, but people at the sheriff's office seem to be keeping secrets and then the cop, Connor, is bitten by a rogue wolf shifter and the only way to save him is by the alpha of the local pack converting him fully. So, that's what happens.
The body of the tale kind of ends there and this is where I mean it's not entirely satisfying or satisfactory. Connor's new senses are ones he's struggling to get used to, as until all is explained to him, he thinks he's tripping on meds. He is approached by the pack alpha and is told to meet at a certain place at midnight on the full moon. He sneaks out and his husband - Josh - follows, unknown to him, and the truth outs.
Just after the change in Connor, he became very dominant, wanting to, as Josh puts it, fark (sorry, the correct word would get the review banned!) all the time, no longer wanting to make love, and they ended up having a huge row, but were kind of reconnecting when Connor sneaked out to go to the meeting - and all came out and pretty much the tale ended there. With Josh half-angry, no real discussion about their future, other than that Josh wanted to remain human and Connor didn't want to convert him anyway.
The book, IMHO, needed a fair bit more to it. It was rushed and a little hard to believe because of its brevity, though it had good bones. I liked Connor and Josh at the start, as a regular couple, and the sex scenes post-bite were some of the hottest I've read by this author, but there wasn't enough talking pre-reveal and certainly not enough post-reveal and everything felt as if the author was in a rush to bundle it all together and pass the baton to Stephani Hecht, who will seemingly be releasing book 2 in the series in Spring 2017. I wouldn't mind reading book 2, as one of the characters appears in this tale and he seems to be a real sweetie. And, I am pretty certain that the alpha will end up with his own tale, that again I wouldn't mind reading (updated: RJS has confirmed it will be an Amber Kell release).
I liked the leads enough to ask, and RJS confirmed, that they will make vague appearances in book 2, so I'm upping this review to 3.5*.
ARC courtesy of the author for my reading pleasure.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
This is a tale of a married couple (I got an ARC and there was husband, partner and lover, all used interchangeably, but the author confirms the leads *are* married - yay!) that's moved to what seems like a small place in the middle of a huge wilderness, where one's taken over his granddad's veterinary practice and the other's taken a position as a small town cop.
They seem happy, but people at the sheriff's office seem to be keeping secrets and then the cop, Connor, is bitten by a rogue wolf shifter and the only way to save him is by the alpha of the local pack converting him fully. So, that's what happens.
The body of the tale kind of ends there and this is where I mean it's not entirely satisfying or satisfactory. Connor's new senses are ones he's struggling to get used to, as until all is explained to him, he thinks he's tripping on meds. He is approached by the pack alpha and is told to meet at a certain place at midnight on the full moon. He sneaks out and his husband - Josh - follows, unknown to him, and the truth outs.
Just after the change in Connor, he became very dominant, wanting to, as Josh puts it, fark (sorry, the correct word would get the review banned!) all the time, no longer wanting to make love, and they ended up having a huge row, but were kind of reconnecting when Connor sneaked out to go to the meeting - and all came out and pretty much the tale ended there. With Josh half-angry, no real discussion about their future, other than that Josh wanted to remain human and Connor didn't want to convert him anyway.
The book, IMHO, needed a fair bit more to it. It was rushed and a little hard to believe because of its brevity, though it had good bones. I liked Connor and Josh at the start, as a regular couple, and the sex scenes post-bite were some of the hottest I've read by this author, but there wasn't enough talking pre-reveal and certainly not enough post-reveal and everything felt as if the author was in a rush to bundle it all together and pass the baton to Stephani Hecht, who will seemingly be releasing book 2 in the series in Spring 2017. I wouldn't mind reading book 2, as one of the characters appears in this tale and he seems to be a real sweetie. And, I am pretty certain that the alpha will end up with his own tale, that again I wouldn't mind reading (updated: RJS has confirmed it will be an Amber Kell release).
I liked the leads enough to ask, and RJS confirmed, that they will make vague appearances in book 2, so I'm upping this review to 3.5*.
ARC courtesy of the author for my reading pleasure.
Author Bio
RJ Scott is the bestselling romance author of over 100 romance books. She writes emotional stories of complicated characters, cowboys, millionaire, princes, and the men and women who get mixed up in their lives. RJ is known for writing books that always end with a happy ever after. She lives just outside London and spends every waking minute she isn't with family either reading or writing.
The last time she had a week’s break from writing she didn't like it one little bit, and she has yet to meet a bottle of wine she couldn’t defeat.
mailto:rj@rjscott.co.uk
www.rjscott.co.uk/
www.facebook.com/author.rjscott?ref=ts&fref=ts
www.goodreads.com/author/show/3432558.R_J_Scott
twitter.com/Rjscott_author
www.librarything.com/author/scottrj
RJ Scott is the bestselling romance author of over 100 romance books. She writes emotional stories of complicated characters, cowboys, millionaire, princes, and the men and women who get mixed up in their lives. RJ is known for writing books that always end with a happy ever after. She lives just outside London and spends every waking minute she isn't with family either reading or writing.
The last time she had a week’s break from writing she didn't like it one little bit, and she has yet to meet a bottle of wine she couldn’t defeat.
mailto:rj@rjscott.co.uk
www.rjscott.co.uk/
www.facebook.com/author.rjscott?ref=ts&fref=ts
www.goodreads.com/author/show/3432558.R_J_Scott
twitter.com/Rjscott_author
www.librarything.com/author/scottrj
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