A review by booksabrewin
Wolf by Penelope Black

5.0

Alaina was on cloud nine. She had just graduated valedictorian at her school and she had her two best friends/cousins by her side the entire time. When she hits the town and frequents her local Irish pub for karaoke with her girls she can expect at least on handsome stranger amongst the crowd watching her intensely through her entire stage act only to have him slip away before she can reach him afterwards to talk to him. But when she pulls that date out of the jar her and her cousins have been using since they were kids: "Kiss a stranger", she knows exactly who she wants to share that moment with.

Alaina was expecting a kiss from her biggest fan and a fun-filled summer with her cousins. What she wasn't expecting was a phone call from her mother asking her to spend the summer with her and that she was getting married. Alaina, hungry for attention from her absentee mother, changes all her plans in hopes of finding some time to rekindle her relationship with her mother and learn a bit more about this soon-to-be stepfather... including her new stepbrothers. What she wasn't expecting was the amount of secrets and lies that surrounded her new family additions, nor that there would be a few familiar faces amongst her stepbrothers that leave her wondering how cruel fate truly could be.

Just the general feel from the first book I can tell that the way the author is writing them that the corresponding boy's name as the title is when Alaina connects with them the most. This book was Wolf's. The viciously handsome man with a predator's nickname that seems to have a perpetual smirk adorning his lips and who Alaina finds herself completely smitten with despite the taboo nature of their meeting. But there are shadows lurking in Wolf's eyes and secrets he refuses to tell her which cause a bit of a rift between the would-be lovers.

I really enjoyed getting to know Wolf in this book a bit. He seems like the type who is hesitant to commit but once he does he's like a dog with a bone: he won't let it go unless it's pried from him. I think that Alaina's bubbly personality with Wolf's snarky depth were a nice match. She lightened him a bit and he gave her a healthy dose of danger.

I struggled to find anything I didn't like about the book.

Sexy mobsters ✔
Hunky Irish accents ✔
Danger & heat ✔
A infectious heroine ✔

Brava Ms. Black. I can't wait to sink my teeth into Rush.