56 reviews for:

Little Wolf

R. Cooper

3.62 AVERAGE


Likeable. I don't tend to seek out werewolf books, but I enjoy R. Cooper's writing and this series has been quite likeable and easy, so I carry on with it and I definitely enjoyed this. It was exactly what I wanted to be reading at the time I read it--it's an easy, low-drama, light-hearted book that was fun and didn't require much energy to read. It felt a little long sometimes, but I just wanted something nice and entertaining and easy to wind down with while I was busy moving house and this certainly is, so I didn't mind. It's always nice to have a cool POC as an MC, though the cover doesn't seem to be very representative, unfortunately. Sometimes I just want something nice and easy and pleasant and I know R. Cooper can do that for me in a way I like, though I'm glad the future books in this series have fewer wolves in them.
emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes

2.5

I was excited to jump into a fated-to-be-mated storyline written by the same author who penned another recent m/m I loved, A Boy and His Dragon BUT although the concept was good, my enjoyment was much less.

The story would have been better if the main character Tim hadn't worn out my patience with his attitude and misconceptions. The draining repetition left my frustrated.

He. Was. So. Incredibly. Annoying.

There is SO much miscommunication - I felt like shaking the main character. I know he was isolated but this was beyond that - this was plain out DENSE.

Toss in his irritating backtalk when it's not warranted and flat out rudeness half the time, and you get a book that makes you annoyed as much as it makes you interested.

Also it was too long for what the story contained and dragging out the misconceptions. It was filled with angst, angst, and more angst - on the plus side, there WAS a good story hidden beneath all that, and the the sheriff was actually a good character, even if a little too heroic/pure with his unending patience. Just wish they would talk CLEARLY and trim off about 100 pages of misunderstandings. One of the best moments was the wolf scene where they ran together - wish they had at least one more scene of that in the book. Could have traded out some angst for it!

My favorite thing about the book is probably that town - how awkward to have them witness so much, but they were hilarious with some of it. I enjoyed the younger wolf pack and their bonding, Carl at the counter, the strange fairy ran diner, the small police force.

Still like the way the author thinks and writes, so I'll chalk this one up as a weaker offering of the series and carry on.

the pacing was agonizingly slow, and that ruined it for me somewhat.

Tim is a young were in this world where other beings are now known and share the world with humans; this include fairies and other beings, as we’ve seen in the other stories in the Being(s) in Love series. Tim is only twenty and has been on the run from his family (well, really his Uncle Silas and his enforcer), an old-blood and powerful werewolf family, for five years. He’s part human and has used magic to try to hide himself. He has landed in Wolf’s Paw, one of the last refuges for beings and, particularly, weres. Any were in the town is under the protection of the town and its sheriff, Nathanial Neri.

When Tim meets Nathaniel, there is an immediate and visceral reaction. Nathaniel is definitely an alpha—the alpha-est, in fact.

Here’s another book in a subgenre I don’t often read. I’m not really into shifter books, although I’ve read some by authors I like. But R. Cooper could seriously write the menu to my favorite Thai takeout joint and I’d buy it. Her UST (Unresolved Sexual Tension, one of my favorite acronyms ever) is off the charts in this book. The entire Beings in Love series is terrific. And I totally cheated with this one and read it the day it came out, even though I'm in the middle of intense revisions, because I’m obsessed with everything Cooper right now.

2.5

Man, I'm not even gonna bother with reviews for this series anymore. I mean, I obviously like them well enough. I keep reading them. But they are all essentially the same plot—large shifter identifies his mate (be it fated or not), smaller partner does not recognize that he is the mate of the larger shifter he pines for in return, cue hundreds of pages of UST, all of which would disappear with even the smallest bit of honest communication. They're cute but there is no getting around the fact that it is the thing in book after book after book. So, I'll give myself a break between them (or I will, I've decided now) but keep reading them. But not back to back. That ruins it.

I do appreciate that Cooper's world seems to be diverse and in this book there is a sweet little 'representation matters' theme. And the fluffy fantasy can be fun. This one however is almost twice as long as the others and it felt it. It was too long, considering the simplicity of the plot.

This book could have been so much smaller. And the story doesn't really progress a lot at all... It's like the two main characters are in the same misunderstood situation till the ending. While you're reading, you hope there's some progress of anything and it's just not there. And the ending was just flat for me. For all the hype the main character Tim gives for this supposed antagonist in the story, it fell flat.
What a waste of time.
Don't read it.

So this book was fantastic. I have to first say that this is the first book I have read of the series and while they don't seem to be so connected that they have to read in order, there are characters that are mentioned in this book that were introduced in the beginning of the series and it really made me wonder about the character Ray. Anyhoo, I read this first because it was recommended to me on one site or another and the description and the fact that this was a full length novel caught my attention big time.

There may be spoilers ahead:
So the protagonist is Tim who is an anything but average werewolf on the run from his family no less. And once you hear how he was treated by his Uncle Silas and Silas' right-hand man, Luca, you not only sympathize with Tim for running for the last five years, you applaud him the strength it took to run and stay hidden for as long as he had.

Tim ran away at age 15 and left behind wealth, power, position, and a veritable prison of his uncle's making. He had come to live with his uncle, the patriarch of the Dirus family (one of the oldest and well-known were families in the world) after his mother died a few years prior. For the next few years he was kept locked away in a manor house, without contact of any kind save his uncle's afternoon sessions of chess and talk of how to run a corporation. He was hidden away because, for a were, especially of the breeding of the Dirus family, Tim was exceptionally small. Silas hated this either because it was a blemish on their family's bloodline, or he felt overprotective, or some twisted combination of the two. Either way he kept Tim away from regular school, and the outside world in general. He never had friends, he never got to go play, he never even got to shift and run on the full moon. Tim grew up always believing that he was never enough for his uncle's liking and that's why he was locked away with a paid pack of guards rather than a pack that was like family. He grew up without knowing how to interact within a pack, or in just everyday social situations. He had no idea what it truly meant to be a were. He'd been fed lies and old wives tales of beastly alphas that would dominate him into submission; who would mount and claim him if they had the chance whether it was consensual or not.

These lies were reinforced by Luca, uncle Silas' lieutenant. Luca used Tim's youth and naivete and his (very brief) crush on Luca to terrorize him. Because Luca would trap him against walls and hurt him, threaten to have his way with him, Tim believed this was how all weres acted. Afraid of the lies that Luca told him of being promised Tim once he came of age, and tired of being locked away from the world like a dirty secret, Tim ran.

After five years of drifting he ends up in Wolf's Paw, a small mountain town that acts as a refuge for weres and humans alike. Anyone in need or in trouble is offered sanctuary and protection. This is the first time Tim has been around weres, having always stayed in cities filled with humans, where he could blend in. Tim struggled to settle in this town. He felt like everyone--especially the big alpha werewolf sheriff, Nathaniel--was out to get him, just waiting for him to step out of line. But this wasn't the case at all.

In actuality, Tim is the mate of Nathaniel, who desires him terribly, but would never, ever force anything on Tim. Nathaniel offers Tim his protection, and when he realizes his uncle has closed in on him, Tim goes to Nathaniel, out of instinct more than desire. His first thought was to run again, but something unknown pulls him to the sheriff's station where he gave a vague explanation of being on the run from someone specific and needing help. Nathaniel convinced him to stay, promised to protect him and then took him to his home, which also acted as a sanctuary for needy or emergency cases.

It was a long couple of weeks of Nathaniel using every ounce of his control to keep from telling Tim the truth of the situation. He wanted Tim to come to the conclusion on his own. He also realized that Tim literally knew nothing about being a were and offered his advice/help regarding all things were whenever Tim wanted it.

The boy was so clueless about everything, instinct, scent, emotions, traditions, everything. And in some stories you might have gotten angry with Tim for being so clueless, but when you read what he was taught at the hands of Silas and Luca, you understand and empathize. You feel so bad for him because he had no clue, and Nathaniel (the whole town) was trying to scream it to him without actually saying the words out loud.

In Wolf's Paw, Tim builds a family, gains friends, falls in love and he doesn't even know it was happening to him. He almost hates himself; he feels as though he's worthy of all the trouble the town is taking on for him, let alone being worthy of the town protector and alpha, Nathaniel. It takes a lot of frustration and angst and even a violent encounter with Luca before Tim finally catches on to what everyone has been trying to convey to him. And even then he hasn't figured it all out!

Tim is sweet and naive and clueless, but full of sass and fire. Nathaniel is powerful, strong and has more control than is supernaturally possible. He's also sweet and gentle and so loving. The cast of characters in this book are fantastic. Carl the cantankerous, older human veteran, Albert the sweet, shy were who has a semi-crush on Tim, Robin's Egg, the fairy employs Tim and treats him like a sweet old aunt would, Zoe, the sassy sheriff's right-hand woman.

This book was very well written. I can tell a lot of time and love went into it. It was angsty without making me want to gag or put the book down. It was fluffy and sweet as well as hot and sexy. The sexy times were hot, but didn't sound like a teenaged-fangirl wrote them; they were dirty without being uncomfortably so. The romance was spot on. And the climax of the story was perfect.

It seems like I've given a lot away, but I actually don't think I have. Anyone could read this review and then read the book and not be completely spoiled. It was fantastic, I recommend it to anyone who likes angsy, fluff, romance and sex all wrapped up in a very good plot. Now I'm going to go read the rest of the series in order.
dark emotional funny medium-paced

 What an interesting novel. All told from one skewed to oblivious and very snarky point of view. The book is very long, and yet compelling, and ultimately satisfying in that way only really intense characters can deliver.