Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
Heard about this off GR as being a more unique shifter/military book. It lived up to expectations with great world building and relationships. Looking forward to more in this series.
reread 2/14
reread 2/14
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I found the book to be a bit confusing tbh. I liked the concept of dominant and true alpha, but wasn't able to fully grasp the meaning. I'm not even sure that Lucas himself understood it. Noah got mad near the end, and I was like "Really? The only reason I guessed that Lucas and you were mates is because I've read a lot of books with shifters. How did you expect Lucas to guess that? You always speak half your mind."
I thought LPCs were a kind of military clothes, and I discovered while reading reviews that they're shoes smh.
There were so many hand job scenes that I skipped most of them.
I thought LPCs were a kind of military clothes, and I discovered while reading reviews that they're shoes smh.
There were so many hand job scenes that I skipped most of them.
Interesting descriptions of a human needing to deal with werewolves under his military command, but the amount of detail got a bit tiresome after a while.
This is hard to rate.
The characters are nice and good. The premise is good. The sex is pretty fucking hot. The marking... *chef kiss*
There are bits that are under developed, the overarching story isn't right, it's like there were good ideas, but they didn't manage to pull them off correctly.
There were things thrown in their path, but they were de-escalated and fixed before it was even a problem.
But. Smoking hot and good ideas. So, 3.5?
The characters are nice and good. The premise is good. The sex is pretty fucking hot. The marking... *chef kiss*
There are bits that are under developed, the overarching story isn't right, it's like there were good ideas, but they didn't manage to pull them off correctly.
There were things thrown in their path, but they were de-escalated and fixed before it was even a problem.
But. Smoking hot and good ideas. So, 3.5?
Strength of the Pack is a bit of a different shifter novel than those I've read previously. I am really enjoying all the different takes and mythologies present in the books I've read. In this series, Kendall McKenna writes it so that wolf shifters are common knowledge and there are protocols on serving with them and commanding them in the military. I liked that. A world where shifters don't have to hide.
Lucas Young is a Lieutenant in the USMC. He's commanding a platoon which has a couple werewolves, at least to start. He's not sure what to expect since he's never been the CO of one before, but brushing up on his training should go a long way. That is until Sergeant Noah Hammond, the only True Alpha in the Marine Corps, is assigned to him. Then, he is a bit out of his depth.
Noah is huge, in human form or wolf, and he definitely has a presence. And, though he tests Lieutenant Young's authority a few times at the beginning, he willingly submits to his CO and he handles the unit's werewolves with ease.
By far, most of the sex in this book is limited to making out and hand jobs. Pretty damn hot hand jobs, I will grant you. Being deployed in the sandbox for months without proper showers does not lend to the down and (figuratively) dirty. So, I was good with that. The story itself was good. There did seem to be more military jargon in the book, and much of it I didn't recognize even though I've read a lot of military themed novels, so I had to look stuff up on occasion.
While I enjoyed Strength of the Pack quite a lot, I also found Lucas kind of a frustrating guy. Not all of it was his fault, of course. Noah could have helped quite a bit by actually telling Lucas a few things that were applicable to their relationship with each other along with or instead of telling him the old legends of True Alpha's and their Dominants. Lucas is a 'what you see is what you get' kind of guy and he hasn't been around enough werewolves to know how things are supposed to be between himself and Noah. So, for pretty much the entire book Noah held part of himself back.
None the less, I thought this was a pretty good start to this series and I look forward to reading the rest.
Lucas Young is a Lieutenant in the USMC. He's commanding a platoon which has a couple werewolves, at least to start. He's not sure what to expect since he's never been the CO of one before, but brushing up on his training should go a long way. That is until Sergeant Noah Hammond, the only True Alpha in the Marine Corps, is assigned to him. Then, he is a bit out of his depth.
Noah is huge, in human form or wolf, and he definitely has a presence. And, though he tests Lieutenant Young's authority a few times at the beginning, he willingly submits to his CO and he handles the unit's werewolves with ease.
By far, most of the sex in this book is limited to making out and hand jobs. Pretty damn hot hand jobs, I will grant you. Being deployed in the sandbox for months without proper showers does not lend to the down and (figuratively) dirty. So, I was good with that. The story itself was good. There did seem to be more military jargon in the book, and much of it I didn't recognize even though I've read a lot of military themed novels, so I had to look stuff up on occasion.
While I enjoyed Strength of the Pack quite a lot, I also found Lucas kind of a frustrating guy. Not all of it was his fault, of course. Noah could have helped quite a bit by actually telling Lucas a few things that were applicable to their relationship with each other along with or instead of telling him the old legends of True Alpha's and their Dominants. Lucas is a 'what you see is what you get' kind of guy and he hasn't been around enough werewolves to know how things are supposed to be between himself and Noah. So, for pretty much the entire book Noah held part of himself back.
None the less, I thought this was a pretty good start to this series and I look forward to reading the rest.
3.5
I'm disappointed. I was really looking forward to reading this book and it started off so well. For close to half of it, I was loving it. I thought both Lucas and Noah were damn sexy. I thought the sexy-scenes were hot (even if there was no actual sex). I thought the set up to go to war was interesting. I happen to have a special love of scenting in fantasy romance/erotica and there is a lot of that here. I was truly enjoying the experience.
The problem is that the book then had its second half, which pretty much just felt like the first half on repeat. It takes far, far, far too long for the relationship to progress. In the mean time, the characters keep doing the exact same things over and over and over again. The author even uses the same phrases to describe the same actions a lot of times. So, honestly, it just feels like the exact same sexy scene again and again (but still no sex until the very end).
I was annoyed by that, but I would have tolerated it. What finally snapped my patience was the fact that the two men had a psychic bond. They were literally in each-others' heads, hearing thoughts, sharing emotions, etc. So, I find it 100% and absolutely unbelievable that Lucas could go sooooo long without realising Noah's true feelings or that his situation was not just a professional one. It was beyond the realms of reasonable believability, therefore extremely frustrating to watch the relationship stagnate because one character hasn't figured something out that I can't understand how he couldn't see. Plus, he'd practically been told more than once by more than one person. Gah!
Then there was the whole Dominant of the True Alpha thing. For the first half I understood it (even if I had to force myself to overlook the obvious contraction of it). Lucas was shown to be...well, dominating of Noah. But by the second half he had fizzled out to the average mm romance 'bottom' and any domination that might have been happening was not by him. So, it lost all significance for me. Let's just call a mate a mate and stop trying to dress it up as new and unusual.
The writing was fine. The editing was passable. I noticed a few mishaps, but not enough to bother me. All in all, an OK read that felt far worse than it was because I had such high hopes, but also really was not as good as it could have been, for fairly obvious and easily fixable reasons.
I'm disappointed. I was really looking forward to reading this book and it started off so well. For close to half of it, I was loving it. I thought both Lucas and Noah were damn sexy. I thought the sexy-scenes were hot (even if there was no actual sex). I thought the set up to go to war was interesting. I happen to have a special love of scenting in fantasy romance/erotica and there is a lot of that here. I was truly enjoying the experience.
The problem is that the book then had its second half, which pretty much just felt like the first half on repeat. It takes far, far, far too long for the relationship to progress. In the mean time, the characters keep doing the exact same things over and over and over again. The author even uses the same phrases to describe the same actions a lot of times. So, honestly, it just feels like the exact same sexy scene again and again (but still no sex until the very end).
I was annoyed by that, but I would have tolerated it. What finally snapped my patience was the fact that the two men had a psychic bond. They were literally in each-others' heads, hearing thoughts, sharing emotions, etc. So, I find it 100% and absolutely unbelievable that Lucas could go sooooo long without realising Noah's true feelings or that his situation was not just a professional one. It was beyond the realms of reasonable believability, therefore extremely frustrating to watch the relationship stagnate because one character hasn't figured something out that I can't understand how he couldn't see. Plus, he'd practically been told more than once by more than one person. Gah!
Then there was the whole Dominant of the True Alpha thing. For the first half I understood it (even if I had to force myself to overlook the obvious contraction of it). Lucas was shown to be...well, dominating of Noah. But by the second half he had fizzled out to the average mm romance 'bottom' and any domination that might have been happening was not by him. So, it lost all significance for me. Let's just call a mate a mate and stop trying to dress it up as new and unusual.
The writing was fine. The editing was passable. I noticed a few mishaps, but not enough to bother me. All in all, an OK read that felt far worse than it was because I had such high hopes, but also really was not as good as it could have been, for fairly obvious and easily fixable reasons.
This book sort of reminded me of Suzanne Brockmann's Troubleshooter series, except it had all men and werewolves, and wasn't quite as good. I found the action in Brockmann's books to be much more engrossing. As far as Lucas and Noah's relationship goes, I love sexual tension, but I got so frustrated that no one would talk to poor Lucas about what was going on no matter how much he asked!! They were all like, oh you're doing fine, we'll talk later. There's no real reason to keep you in the dark but we're going to do it anyway. UGH!
There comes a point when lack of communication becomes absurd, and these guys crossed way over that line. Despite that, it was enjoyable, and I LOVED all the biting and dominance. Yum! I guess I'll continue the series, though word is that the next one is nothing but sex, I guess to make up for the scarcity of it in this book. Maybe if I go into it expecting PWP I won't be too disappointed.
There comes a point when lack of communication becomes absurd, and these guys crossed way over that line. Despite that, it was enjoyable, and I LOVED all the biting and dominance. Yum! I guess I'll continue the series, though word is that the next one is nothing but sex, I guess to make up for the scarcity of it in this book. Maybe if I go into it expecting PWP I won't be too disappointed.
An enjoyable, if a little sappy, read.
I enjoyed the military theme of this story. An interesting "What if werewolf shifters were the norm in the military" scenario. It wasn't confusing as I sometimes experience with other military-themed book. Easily understandable and quite enjoyable to read.
That being said, I felt the relationship between Lucas and Noah to be rather wishy-washy and sappy.
The story's highlight for me is its focus on military life with shifters in it.
I enjoyed the military theme of this story. An interesting "What if werewolf shifters were the norm in the military" scenario. It wasn't confusing as I sometimes experience with other military-themed book. Easily understandable and quite enjoyable to read.
That being said, I felt the relationship between Lucas and Noah to be rather wishy-washy and sappy.
The story's highlight for me is its focus on military life with shifters in it.