Bayou Book Junkie: Review Tour: Lone Wolf by Anna Martin (Giveaway)

Saturday, October 20, 2018

Review Tour: Lone Wolf by Anna Martin (Giveaway)

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Dreamspinner

Length: 70,000 words approx.

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Cover Design: Garrett Leigh @ Black Jazz Design

Blurb

Jackson Lewis isn’t a typical werewolf. He isolates himself in a small town outside Spokane and dedicates himself to making his business—Lone Wolf Brewery—a success. If it leaves him little time for romance, he’s okay with that. His soul mate could be out there somewhere, but he isn’t actively looking.

So he’s in for quite the shock when he literally bumps into his soul mate—Leo Gallagher, an adorable, nerdy, vibrant music therapist who’s Jackson’s polar opposite.

But he’s human. And a man.

Jackson is straight—or at least he’s always assumed so. Though he can’t deny his attraction to Leo, it’s a lot for both of them to deal with.

While Jackson and Leo figure out what their future might hold, they face prejudice from both the human and werewolf communities—including a group of fanatics willing to kill to show humans and werewolves don’t belong together.

3 Stars

I’m a little undecided on my feelings for this book. While I have completely loved a few of Anna Martin's books in the past (Impossible Boy was an utterly fabulous book), I just feel a little let down on this one. It had a lot of potential to be great, it just wasn’t on par with some of the previous titles. But I will say that if this is her first time in writing a shifter/true mate book I think it was a good start and because of her writing style it should only improve onto books in the future if she follows this course in writing. For me, personally, this book wasn’t great, but it was ok. There were times I liked it and there were times I was left a little frustrated and confused and not sure of the way some things ended up resolved. Almost like some of the thoughts and actions weren’t completely followed through and the focus was put onto the wrong parts of the story and events along the way, it was just a little disjointed with a lot of outside stuff going on not geared towards the main plot of the story.

Leo (human) and Jackson (werewolf) meet by chance at the hospital Leo works at, and they realize they are soul mates. Jackson and Leo take the time throughout the book to learn about each other and to find their way in being mates when the outside world seems to have it out for them.

What I really didn’t get was, ok, they’re fated soul mates, but they really didn’t act like it. There was no real moment of clarity since Jackson fights off “being gay” right from the start through the book until almost literally the very end. He is not gay, he doesn’t want to be gay, he doesn’t want to have a soul mate, and he definitely doesn’t want that soul mate to be a man. I understand that he was really hesitant about how he felt since having feelings for a man was really new and totally unexpected for him. And, if this was a regular M/M book *not a fated mates story* that would have been more believable to me. I would have loved reading that part of the storyline, where one supposedly really full on straight guy realizes his new feelings and comes out for the guy he can’t deny. But… They Are Fated Mates. So, in reality, they shouldn’t have had such a hard time connecting as a couple and I think Jackson’s reluctance was a large part of the storyline that didn’t really need all that focus. It really made him come off as a jerk and ultimately he ended up treating Leo like crap because of it.

Another point… I think that bringing the Human Protection Agency and their madness more to the forefront of this book would have been a better route to go. I felt kind of let down that we didn’t get more details on their brand of crazy and who they were and the acts of violence towards the humans/werewolves they went after. IMO, I think that needed to be the main part of the story not Jackson's lack of liking men. And the ending, when they are finally caught… I just needed more, it did not feel resolved at all. I could have really gotten behind more angst and mystery and suspense when it came to that part. Super Disappointing.

Ok, and the last point I would like to bring up…Scent marking… Why, oh why bring up scent marking and make it this huge deal for werewolves' mates having other people’s scents being on them, but then never say anything about it again through the whole entire book. Especially with having Leo’s roommate be another wolf, and having all these side characters being so close in contact with Leo. Wouldn’t that have driven Jackson nuts? Having another werewolf’s scent being on him all the time. But nothing is said or done on either side from Leo or Jackson, or even the roommate, who very obviously hated Jackson and could have made it a lot more miserable for him by rubbing all over Leo more. lol.

Ok, so now that I vented a little bit on the points I wasn’t fond of, let me reiterate that there were things that I did actually like in this book. Overall, I liked all of the characters individually, even Jackson who ends up having a Teddy Bear center under a large tough outer shell. Leo was cute and a decently likable character. I would love to see Leo’s roommate get a book and his HEA too. I think the premise of this book was good and I liked the gist of the storyline we got. This book had a lot of potential to be great and I think that if there is a next Fated Mates/shifter book for this author, there is definitely room for improvement and it could be another fantastic addition. I do really enjoy this author's books so I will still be checking out whatever else she has coming for us next, regardless of what the story contains.

*** Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie for my reading pleasure, a review wasn't a requirement.***