Steven's Journey

Brac Pack #20

by Lynn Hagen

[Siren Everlasting Classic Erotic Alternative Paranormal Romance, M/M, shape-shifters] Steven Barlett is on the run from David, his ex-boyfriend, who thinks settling their differences requires a fist. But Steven takes a secret with him, and David is willing to kill to keep it quiet. Roman Lakeland, the youngest of seven and the foreman on the construction crew that is helping to expand Brac Village, has finally found his mate, Steven, who is living in a shelter for the battered. Roman takes Steven home, showing him a life Steven never dreamed was possible. Roman's family takes to Steven, and their lives finally feel complete. But when someone on his crew threatens his mate’s life, Roman is out for blood. Can Roman show Steven how to be his own man? Can he even keep Steven alive? And can the Lakelands and the Brac Pack stop the evil that Steven's ex, David, has unleashed? Each book in Lynn Hagen's Brac Pack collection features a different romantic couple. Each title stands alone and can be read in any order. However, we recommend reading the series in sequential order. ** A Siren Erotic Romance

Genres: M M Romance, Paranormal, Shapeshifters, Romance, Fantasy, M M Paranormal, Erotica

129 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 6, 2011

About the author

Lynn Hagen loves writing about the somewhat flawed, but lovable. She also loves a hero who can see past all the rough edges to find the shining diamond of a beautiful heart.

You can find her on any given day curled up with her laptop and a cup of hot java, letting the next set of characters tell their story.

Reviews

[Serena Yates · Rating 4 out of 5]

Steven's Journey, number twenty in the Brac Pack series, moves away from the main line of the Brac Pack stories - which makes sense, since all the pack members now have mates. The bear shifters who have briefly appeared previously seem to be the focus of the new sub-series. I love that idea and what I got to see about the Lakeland brothers holds great promise for the future. But, what was even better, the Brac pack (or at least some of its members) were very much involved as well.

Steven is not only on the run from his ex-boyfriend, he is trying to get rid of his entire previous life and make a fresh start. His unique point of view and sense of humor as he encountered race after race of paranormals had me laughing out loud. He is determined to make this work, even if his low self esteem initially gets in the way.

Roman, the youngest of the bear shifter family, is a great guy, even though he seems totally inept at dealing with a mate. He wants one, is determined to make Steven happy but as for the actual relationship? It skirts disaster several times.

If you like big, strong knights in shining armor who save their lover from a life he doesn't deserve, a great sense of humor in dealing with surprises and characters who are determined to make things work - no matter what, you will probably like this book.

[Aղցela W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was book 20 in the "Brac Pack" series. The hot sexy Lakeland bears Roman the youngest of 7 he owns a construction company that Maverick hired to build the resource center and the bike shop for the Santiago brothers. Steven Bartlett who we first met in book 19 is in an abusive relationship is boyfriend of 4 years has begun hitting him Taylor gave him his number when he first met him crying in the bathroom of a diner. Taylor and the Santiago brothers pick him up and take him to the new shelter where Roman is working he knows instantly that Steven is his mate. When Taylor's mother tries to attack him and Steven he finds out about paranormal's and when Roman takes him home he finds out that he is a were-bear in a funny way he wakes up and opens the door to find Roman in bear form sleeping in front of his door. Steven also has a problem when he finds out about other's like timber-wolves and vamps he faints it was funny. Turns out he already knew about shifter's when a classmate in high school shifted in a gym locker room. Roman has a cousin Dommy who wants to hurt Steven he was a friend of his ex David who was a drug dealer. This book was a good edition to this series the sex scenes were good and this was the first m/m book that I have read with sex on horseback. This book did have a few typos in it but overall it was a good book. I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series.

[Phaney · Rating 2 out of 5]

2011 Review:

Could have been better (for sure!), could have been worse.
I guess reading this kind of stuff is like empty calories for the brain. >.>; If it’s done well, one gets a sugar rush, otherwise there’s a slightly artificial taste to it, or one gets sick from the overdose. XD
I think I ran that metaphor into the ground.

Anyhow, yes. Picked that series back up with this single new volume and it’s not changed greatly. I think this series’ best days are over. But that is okay.


2012 Re-read Project:

I went and did it. I re-read all the connected series by Lynn Hagen, this time in order of publication date, as recommended, which sadly does not ensure actual chronologicality. That’s twenty-nine books of moderate length, spanning three series (with more to spin off).

I’ll put my thoughts in spoiler tags since I plan to paste this into the end of each review covered here. There are no actual spoilers, so feel free to read this for a general idea of the series.

Nutter Nero remains my favourite, followed by Nicholas's Wolf. After those, Joshua's Law, Knox and Hunter.
In between and around these volumes bunched a lot of boring books, annoying ones, and just okay ones.
Let’s not talk about realism or anything making sense in these series. And continuity is a lie. Structural inconsistencies are the norm and let’s not even get started on maintaining a logical timeline.

Since the chronological reading list goes by publication date, the first Zeus’s Pack book actually goes back about six years from the Brac Pack book I’d read before. And since a lot of these books follow closely one upon the other, what with the increasingly frequent semi-cliff-hanger endings, this once again means that the timescale is thrown entirely out of whack. That much I’ve come to expect with these books. More disturbingly, the cliff-hangers make series switching all the more confusing.

Mind you, there’s a definite advantage in consuming only bite sized bits of the more depressing Demon Warriors series by having it interspersed with the lighter Brac Pack and the agony riddled but still silly Zeus’s Pack.
After the first twenty-nine books, the depressing atmosphere of the Demon Warriors series has begun to drip over into the others big time. At this point all the series seem to converge, although it’s still messy at best and the only way to accept how the timelines add up now is by closing my eyes tightly and pretending the issue does not exist.

A verdict on the whole mess so far? No way.
As I’ve said, this jumble of series has its high points and its tedium. Pretty much my previous reviews still apply. That means, yes, after a few volumes it became necessary to start skimming through the copious sex scenes to locate occasional character bits among the repetitive superlatives. Well, to be fair, the repetitive nature lies more in the sheer mass of those scenes and the fact that sex tends to come down to the same number of things naturally. I’ve certainly read other books or series where the phrases themselves were grating with their sameness and although this might be the case here too, I did not notice such a thing. Mind you, that could be aided by my skimming, but who cares at this point?

Overall the series got better, then intermittently worse, then more depressing, but also a little more varied sexually. How sad is it that the threesomes tend to have a more refreshing feel to them due to the greater versatility present? That’s only for the sex, though.

[Wende · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like Steven at all. He acted like he did not know about werewolves and then you find out his former lover was one. He was safe and still did not tell about said former lover draining mated men for their blood to make a drug for shifters. He only told when he was threaten.

[Kerry sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

yummy bears

[D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

After all the sentries have found their mates, it's time for Lakeland brothers to find their own mate. The story start with the youngest of 7 brothers, Roman. He's the youngest but more mature than his older twins. His mate is Steven, a survivor of abusive relationship. It took time and patient from Roman to showed his mate that he's different from his ex and he always be there for him no matter what. Later, the reason Steven's ex become abusive is found out. It is because of a drug called liquid wrath. It used by shifters to get high but make them more aggresive and violent. The main concern about that drug is its component, it needed human blood and mated human is the best ingredient. Mav, the sentries and Lakelands are determined to erase it from the world.

[Gabrielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Estrellas
Entretenido y buena presentación para la familia de osos.

[Valentina Heart · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the unfortunate book I choose to read after a year long pause. I guess there was a bit of nostalgia involved there since these were always easy reads not requiring excessive attention and always aiming toward the same ending. I did expect good characterization and simply enjoyment due to such a long absence. I mean these were my drug back in the day even if they were on a down-slide when I'd stopped reading.
Unluckily for me, not even sentimentality could help me really get into this book. Maybe I should end this by saying why...

I actually forgot most of the characters mentioned through the course of this book. I did read I think all of the other books in this series and a good part of those from the two connected ones but still, after so much time I barely remember the pack/coven leaders. My point is, even at the very beginning there was so much info about the connected stories that it really overwhelmed the actual couple.

There was no connection between Roman and Steven I could sense, no tension some of the other books had and the very flow of the story seemed repetitive, even somewhat silly. Steven appeared more like a maneuverable doll than an actual person and Roman didn't have any personality to speak of. If there was any impression to be felt from him it came from his interactions with his brothers (another thing that probably sounded funnier to the author than the actual reader) which again was way underdeveloped.

But none of that really sealed the deal for me, no. The death blow came close to the ending when Steven conveniently states how he actually knew about the existence of shifters and in fact his ex was dealing drugs made out of mate blood. To me it felt like such a cop out and a bad attempt to cover up a plot hole. It basically tells us that Steven knew about the shifters, mates and pretty much the whole idea about the paranormal world. He lied to his mate supposedly out of fear and I can only assume faked the fainting, because why faint about something you already knew about? Of course there is room for excuses - he maybe only knew about a part of it/seeing it was way different than only knowing it/he was terrified for his life and everyone knows snitches don't have a long life span - but in the end all of it was just too watery to make the actual effort. Steven and Roman fall into that group of characters who I'll forget as soon as I close my eyes and go to sleep tonight and the next time I decide to take a chance with this series I again won't remember what the last book I'd read was about.

[CB · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I delved into the Bracverse a 2nd time and now there are 121 books - yikes! I loved this Universe the first time I read it several years ago and now I love it more, I really do, but I've only been able to read these series (and I have expanded to all the books that are currently out in each):
Brac Pack
Christian's Coven
Zeus's Pack
Demon Warriors
The Exiled

These are the series that start the Universe. Reading them in order is a must. Each book has it's own love story but there is an underlying story that plays out throughout them all. As you get towards the end of these series, other series come into play and I noticed that, since I did not read them, I missed some of the characters being mentioned (good and bad) but I was still able to follow because the main ones stay the same.

One day I WILL buy these and read them all!!! (For the correct order, just look on the Internet for Lynn Hagen Reading Order):
Brac Village
Shadow Tribe
BPNG (Brac Pack Next Generation - Brac Pack kids)
The Remus Brothers
Wolves of Desire

[Ter · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5
I loved getting to see the Brac pack wolves and some of the mates again. And the new addition of the bear shifters is good.
And I felt for Steven when he was at the Brac pack house and finding out not only are there "bear and wolf shifters", but now "elfs", "vampires" and "pregnant men" he felt like he was Alice and fell down the rabbit hole.lol.
Can't wait for jokester Chauncey (one of the brothers) to find his mate... that should be good.

While it was kinda short on plot and some back ground stuff (like the ex-boyfriend stuff) and the problems popped up quickly.

I think what I like best is that there were 2 problems(bad guys) that were dealt with within story, there is a problem they have to deal with as the bks continue but at least there isn't the bad guys from this one "still" running around... (as another cliffhanger) had enough of those for awhile..

[David Pritchett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steven Barlett is on the run from David, his ex-boyfriend, who thinks settling their differences requires a fist. But Steven takes a secret with him, and David is willing to kill to keep it quiet.

Roman Lakeland, the youngest of seven and the foreman on the construction crew that is helping to expand Brac Village, has finally found his mate, Steven, who is living in a shelter for the battered.

Roman takes Steven home, showing him a life Steven never dreamed was possible. Roman's family takes to Steven, and their lives finally feel complete. But when someone on his crew threatens his mate’s life, Roman is out for blood.

Can Roman show Steven how to be his own man? Can he even keep Steven alive? And can the Lakelands and the Brac Pack stop the evil that Steven's ex, David, has unleashed?

Visit Lynn's Website at http://www.lynnhagen.com

[Asterope · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, it was a nice change from the Brac household and all the drama with their mates. It was starting to be too much, especially because I read the books back to back. Also, though Steven had issues because of his abusive ex-boyfriend, he wasn't as immature as the Brac mates. This is a good thing. I hope the mates from now on aren't carbon copies of the Brac mates.

The Liquid Wrath thing was a bit much. I hope it's not some long drawn out drama.

I hope the other books explain the bears a bit more, though. So far they don't seem fleshed out. I mean, do they have an Alpha (or is it just their father?) or structure? How old do they live, 1000 years like the Timber Wolves? Are their senses heightened, like the Grey Wolves smell and the Timber Wolves hearing? Etc.

[Deirdre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bear with Me

I've been looking forward to the introduction of Lakeland Bear clan. I was not disappointed. They were as humorous, loving, and family oriented as I remember. They blended so well with the Brac Pack - Steven not so much. It was bad enough that he'd been abused by his boyfriend, but to be made cognizant of even more of Brac Village's terrifying Paranormals Creatures, made him scared & questioning his mate bond.

If a crazy Ex were all he had to worry about, he might have been able to handle it, but there seemed to be danger everywhere. There were so many twists and turns making this a very enjoyable read.

[adrienne · Rating 3 out of 5]

typical lynn hagen serial romance. nothing fantastic, nothing so bad it can't be finished. what is typical lynn hagen? imagine a shorter harlequin romance but with no t&a (see, i was going to write no surprise pregnancies, but... yeah.).

out of sheer laziness, i will be using this as my template for all books by :
lynn hagen
stormy glenn
scarlett hyacinth
carol lynne
gabrielle evans

unless otherwise noted. i'd apologize, but i'm not sorry. i figure it's about as much time as they put into their books. dammit! well, i made it all the way to the end being rather moderate in my assessment. that's a win.

[Tj · Rating 3 out of 5]

Steven is on the run from an abusive ex and something more. Roman and his family are bear shifters recently moved to town. Steven is Roman's mate and in typical shifter style will let nothing harm his mate. Maverick and his pack come in a help in protecting Steven and dealing with a new hidden threat. This new addition to the Brac Pack series is very short on plot. I was disappointed because there didn't seem to be much of a stab at creating a plot as throwing the problem in when it arose. Still I enjoyed seeing more of the Brac Pack and meeting the newest shifter family.

[Maya · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was definitely one of the better Brac Pack books for me. It had the typical big shifter and little mate theme going but somehow it wasn't as annoying. Perhaps because Roman didn't feel the need to carry his mate everywhere and Steven didn't cry at the drop of a hat nor did he have temper tantrums. I love the new bear shifter family and I am now anxious to find out who Prince Christian's mates are.

[Meggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book. I liked the couple in this story, but truth to be told, some sex scenes between them were so not hot, really. Like when Steven was scared or emotionally week. Just didn't feel right to have sex at such occasions. But in general, the story was comical and enjoyable enough.

[Randy Wiggins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was another great book in the series. I loved the Steven charachter and wished he was my mate! The story was well written, the romance strong and the sex scenes were steamy but not over-powering to the plot.
My only complaint with the book was that it wasn't 2 or 3 times longer.

[Lyri]

Creo que deberia dejar de leer esta serie, cansa leer lo mismo de lo mismo de lo mismo, ademas, me estoy perdiendo la oportunidad de leer libros mas interesantes y emotivos, hay demasiados libros por leer, y no se que tanto tiempo tengo para leerlos.

[Ivka_s_knihou · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5 stars

[Davina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't feel li,e the usual brac pack, do bears have 3rd form? Be interesting. The bros are too nosey, will like to see how the twin deals with being mated

[Clover · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was fun and lovely ! I loved how Steven reacted at every paranormal being he met !!

[Marsha Spence · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/2015-5/2015 Reread of Zeus's Pac, Brac Pack, Demon Warriors, and Christian's Coven. Today's #'s: ZP 7; BP 25; DW 3; CC 3

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Roman's family is hilarious.

[My Dichotomy Life · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the Lakeland family and I'm glad the books are back to less of the paranormal world and sticking to Shifters.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally read in 2012

[Brittney Bower · Rating 4 out of 5]

it nice to know that the BRAC PACK it extending again.

[Byron · Rating 3 out of 5]

See for series review.

[Candice · Rating 3 out of 5]

3rd reading 1-4-15
EEK! Roman and Steven. I really enjoyed them this time around. Steven and his fainting. HA!

2nd Read June 2014

First read 11-8-13
Roman is so sweet.

[Caroline Brand · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars