I grabbed Night Angels, by Jessie M. from the Amazon free list. What can I say? I’m a sucker for a stacked man.
Description from Goodreads:
Kyle, the twin without…
Until a chance meeting in a wood sets of a chain of events that throw him out of his comfort zone. The easy rhythm of his titled life is lost forever as he discovers a new world and a very new him. An animal version. It shocks and arouses him in equal measure.
And her… the one who did this to him… he is drawn inexplicably…
He will be tested and pushed to his limits and beyond…
Review:
This was alright, I guess. Nothing stood out and dazzled me, but I didn’t hate it either. It just didn’t feel like it knew what kind of book it wanted to be. Did it want to be a gritty, dark werewolf tale, a light-hearted HEA, baby on the way romance, a pseudo fairytale (complete with Prince Charming and kissed frog references…not to mention the Big Bad Wolf), or a piece of heady erotica? It appears to have tried to be all of the above and fell pretty flat as a result. It would have been much stronger, I think, if it had been a little more selective.
It starts out with a fairly pointless affair and some middling sex. I wouldn’t really mind if it tied into the plot in any way, but it didn’t. So I was left feeling like the actual story didn’t start until about 15% in, and the plot that the reader thought the book was going to be about was dropped almost completely. As was the whole “twin without” aspect, as set up in the blurb and first couple pages. It played almost no part in the book. It was all just a little jarring.
Then, once the reader crosses that divide they’re faced with a hero who was rightly angry about his predicament but able to forgive his assailant in mere moments. Wait, what? I was left behind it moved so fast. The insta-love kinda had the same effect on me. As did the mysteriously experienced virgin who was up for going all night with no discomfort and a shockingly expansive sexual repertoire for a first-timer. Guess she learns fast, right?
Thrown in amongst all of this was a disturbing number of cuddles, I love yous, gentle kisses, stroke the bellies, have your baby, etc. All of the happy domesticity just felt out of place amongst the bloody werewolf battles. Or maybe the bloody battles felt out of place with the domestic bliss. Can’t really be sure which way that should go.
The writing itself wasn’t bad, and I don’t remember many editorial foul ups. So, it’s a perfectly readable book. And the right reader just might love it. I thought it felt a bit disconjointed for my liking. I do have to commend it, however, on being classy enough to mostly avoid the whole sexually abused heroine trope even when provided the opportunity. I only mention this because it’s become so common in recent publications and it was nice to see a heroine not have to play that particular victim role. Again, not a bad book, just didn’t do it for me.