Wolf Specter

Since the last two books for my Omega Weekend Challenge turned out to both be short(ish) stories by the same person (Wolf Specter), I’ve just combined them into one post. Here are Omega’s Touch and Omega’s Fate.

Description from Goodreads:
An Omega who can kill with a Touch. An Alpha determined to save his son. Will they clash- or will they accept their bond?

Brilliant, indolent Dilyn spent years hiding his power as an Omega. He doesn’t want to bond to an Alpha, doesn’t want to lose control of his life, or his gift. But when called upon by his Alpha to do something useful, Dilyn reluctantly travels to a strange pack in order to Heal a dangerously injured new wolf.

Gwyr promises he won’t try and bond the Omega to him. But resolve flees when he sees the snarky young wolf for the first time. His wolf knows they were meant to be together- but Gwyr can’t break his word. And Healing his son, Tanner, is more important than convincing a skittish Omega that he is worth the risk.

Dilyn struggles to Heal, struggles to retain his independence in the face of unexpected temptation… should he trust that Gwyr isn’t a tyrant, but is an Alpha willing to allow Dilyn his freedom? Is a mate bond worth risking freedom?

Review:
Hmmm, simplistic and rushed but not all together bad. Characters seemed to make instant, unprovoked changes in attitudes and the bit at the end, about dragons, seemed irrelevant (probably for a future book).

My main problem with this, however, was the way Dilyn was forced into something he didn’t want. It’s clear from beginning to end that he doesn’t want to mate, but he’s forced to anyway. And I simply couldn’t believe that love was supposed to have developed (making it all ok in theory) when the whole danger to Dilyn in the first place was that ANY ALPHA WOULD BE ATTRACTED TO ANY OMEGA AND TRY TO CLAIM HIM, which suggests to me that there was nothing any more special between him and Gwyr that any other alpha and omega, no matter how hard the author tried to pretend that the world she set up didn’t work the way she set it up.

Description from Goodreads:
The Mating Ball used to be a yearly event where bachelor Alpha werewolves meet potential mates, but now it’s a party mostly used to hook up with as many people as you can.

Ethan, one of the humans hired to entertain the werewolves, goes into the event with only one expectation: getting paid for having fun. The prospect of maybe meeting an Alpha female is only a bonus.

Max, a successful Alpha, has been getting pressure from all sides to settle down and prove his Alpha genes. Two problems: he doesn’t believe that the Mating Ball works and he is only interested in men.

Once there, he meets Ethan, who catches his attention immediately, but the man insists that he isn’t gay, or interested in Max. As the ball comes to an end, the two men can no longer deny their attraction and take off together. Only to wake up to a very special surprise.

Review:
You know how sometimes when you listen to an audiobook you can put it on faster than real life? That’s what this story is like. The plot rockets at an unfollowable pace. The characters morph from screeching harpy, to sulking child, to hesitant lover, to enthusiastic lover, to morning sickness at light speed. The Mpreg is thrown in at the last as unbelievable attempt at a twist. The world isn’t explained at all. I’m not even certain if Omegas are wolves or the humans who come to the party. I don’t know if they actually mated for life or just mated, as in had sex. The reader isn’t given enough information and the whole thing is just ridiculous. The idea could have been interesting if had actually been developed. But it hasn’t been and that negates any charm it might have had.

fated nights cover About the book:
Three book bundle, enjoy all Rosa Swann’s series’ first books in ONE SET!!

Feathers and Microphones #1
Florian, fallen angel and now part-time bartender, and Seth, an up and coming rock star, both want the same out of their one night stand.

Only, the next morning leaves them yearning for each other even more and, after some fun in the kitchen, things turn complicated.

Seth wears the brand of a demon and Florian is not sure he can get involved with someone who made a pact with a demon, again.

Party at the Lunar Pack (Lunar Pack #1)
Roy never thought that one party with his sexy new neighbours would turn his whole life upside down!

Roy’s life exists of work, dinner and sleep, boring. His friends are getting married, or having kids, and he sits home alone, too focused on his job to have much of a social life, let alone a love life.

Then he finds a letter on the doormat, an invitation to a housewarming party next door. There he meets Clyde and Sam, they seem interested in him as more than just neighbours, and definitely ready to explore if that interest is mutual.

But why does he feel like there is more going on between the three of them? And why are Clyde and Sam acting all weird the next morning?

Omega’s Fate (Mated to the Alpha #1)
The Mating Ball used to be a yearly event where bachelor Alpha werewolves meet potential mates, but now it’s a party mostly used to hook up with as many people as you can.

Once there, he meets Ethan, who catches his attention immediately, but the man insists that he isn’t gay, or interested in Max.

As the ball comes to an end, the two men can no longer deny their attraction and take off together. Only to wake up to a very special surprise.

Review:

This anthology contains three stories, one by Wolf Specter and two by Rosa Swan. However, comparing the writing, I have a strong suspicion these are the same author. Which is fine; everyone’s welcome to a pen name or two, and I could be wrong, of course. But it seems worth noting that if you do or don’t like one, you’re likely to feel the same about the other. I did.

One should probably also note that while this appears to be a collection of stories (I downloaded it thinking books, so imagine my disappointment), it’s actually three first parts in SERIALS, so don’t expect any conclusions anywhere in evidence. There aren’t any. I feel very very strongly that serials should be labeled as such, so I was a little ragey to find a whole book of them and no label anywhere in evidence. (We’re told ‘first in series’ but not serials. These are different.) Readers should be able to make an informed decision about what they read, and being denied pertinent information is rude, if not dishonest.

Despite my serious disappointment in what this book contains (or doesn’t) I did give each story a solid chance to impress me. They failed.