The Alpha Wolf Kidnaps a Mate

DeWitt's Pack #1

by Marcy Jacks

[Siren Everlasting Classic Erotic Alternative Paranormal Romance, M/M, werewolves, HEA] Alpha werewolf James DeWitt is lonely, but luckily he has just found his mate. Unluckily the young blond man already seems to have a significant other. A dangerous man who poses a threat to Corey Black's life, as well as James's pack. James won't give up that easy, and he won't allow his mate to spend another night in the arms of his abuser, even if it means he has to kidnap his mate to rescue him. But the boyfriend has other plans, and even after almost killing Corey to prevent him from leaving with the enemy, he is determined to hunt down the pair. James must determine if his presence in Corey's life has done more harm than good, and whether or not he should set his mate free before his love destroys them both. ** A Siren Erotic Romance

Genres: M M Romance, Shapeshifters, Paranormal, Romance, Werewolves, Fantasy, Audiobook

100 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 6, 2012

About the author

Marcy Jacks lives and works in Ontario, Canada where she is fervently pursuing the writer's life while writing about lots of gorgeous guys. She loves hearing from readers and you can reach her at authormarcyjacks@gmail.com.

Reviews

[Hc · Rating 3 out of 5]

A promising lead into a new series. I think this may be the first of this author I've read. I enjoyed it. A few drawbacks for me.. the fact that Corey got shot in the chest, and yet James transported him to the pack and old woman for help. He should not have been able to make it that far.. it should have been more like 'oh shit! I should infect him right now and give him a chance to live' or at least I believe. Second, it's not the fact that James decided to let Corey take him but more that for James' first time Corey (obviously experienced in bottoming) used.... spit! How can we honestly expect him to get the 'full treatment' with out enough lubricant to keep up the motion? Maybe more experienced but for the first time? I really with authors would totally skip this scenario for 1st time bull riders all together. I thought James came across as sweet but at the same time kinda stupid, to give his mate 'space' and a chance to have his own life.

The second book will hopefully keep the momentum going from this to keep the series a pleasant read.

[Ije the Devourer of Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

A predictable but very enjoyable shifter story and the first one in the series. The audio narration was excellent.

[Riva · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to the audio version of this book. I feel I should start this review with a qualifier. This book is published by Siren Publishing, which is kind of like the McDonalds of the mm romance (and mf for that matter) publishing world, IMHO. They turn out lots of serial based books that read very much like soap operas with many characters which spin off into new series. This is not, nor does it pretend, to be great works of literature. They are simply full of characters (usually vampires and shifters with size differentials), an ongoing storyline (that generally has a formulaic “I must protect my mate” vibe) and lots of smex. I have read about 10 over the years if I got into a storyline or really enjoyed a character. Although they are part of a series, they try to make each book a stand alone, but it really helps if you have been following the series for true enjoyment of the book. With that said, my rating of them is on a 1 – 3 star basis. In my opinion, there is no way any of them can be higher than a 3 because to do so would equate them with the likes of Josh Lanyon, Jordan Hawk, Kaje Harper, Mary Calmes, etc. It would be like comparing McDonald’s food with Morton Steakhouse, not apples to apples. I’m not saying Siren books are bad, they certainly are not, but I personally have to grade on a curve.

This book gets 3 stars because I really enjoyed it. It was a bit darker than other series I have read, but I thought it was done well, despite the world’s worst cheesy title. It is a typical alpha shifter insta mate love but with a crazy ass ex thrown in. People die pretty grizzly deaths. I’m interested to see where this series goes.

[Candice · Rating 3 out of 5]

So James and Corey, huh.

From the blurb, I got the impression that Corey was abused. But, yet, we never hear anything about it from him. We just know that Dean is dangerous, but he never mentions he was actually ever hurt by the man. Then we see Corey have a backbone and stand up to Dean, not something an abused person does to his abuser. So, I thought that was misleading.

How was James know Dean is a hunter? It was never mentioned, unless Corey said something, but he was passed out. Was Corey really "kidnapped"? I didn't see it that way. I think I would have liked Corey be on his own for more time. Make James wait. I would have liked him to process things more. I mean, his entire life has changed in a span of hours. He doesn't even know James, yet he's going to turn around and run back to him? Hell, stay out in the woods overnight or something.

LUBE man. LUBE! Spit for your first time? Yeah... not cool.

Not sure if I will be rushing to read more of this series, but I have the next one on my TBR. We shall see.

[Monika · Rating 2 out of 5]

A light, easy read, it was pretty much your usual shifter story nothing really different about it. I really liked James and Corey, there definitely was a connection right from their first meeting and they made me laugh, which is something I wish happened more often in books. I wish it could have been longer I would like to have seen more time taken with their “mating” that part happened a bit fast for me and I would like to have had a better understanding of what made Dean tick. Not a bad short story, it'd be interesting to see how this series carries on.

[♥️Victoria ♥️ ♥️love books♥️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall book rating: 3 stars
Audio book: Narrator - Peter B Brooke 3 Stars
Book cover 2 stars

This was interesting w/wolves, witches, vampires and paranormal hunters who goes bad ass crazy what wouldn't be interesting?

[Phaney · Rating 3 out of 5]

The interesting thing with a new (to me) author treading the same tired ground is that you immediately spot the differences. And there are some good differences here, some sparks of intelligence, flashes of unexpected realism. There are also some bits of sloppy writing, but it’s not ongoing. I figure this might be the first book published so it stands to reason that those things would improve with practise.

His decision made, Corey continued to sit on the ground for another fifteen minutes before he finally worked up the balls to get to his feet and run back to James’s house.

Heh. Good one.
Really, I like this author’s way of having her characters react to things so far. It feels strangely fresh because they are commenting on things I had not considered before. Also, they’re not morons or unreasonable. (Okay, most of the time, anyway.)

I further appreciate that torture is harsh, certain wounds have consequences, and scars are not the kind that enhances handsomeness or looks particularly noble.

On the downside, I don’t see love between Corey and James. I see chemistry and possibly even a bit of a crush (I will have to take Corey’s word for it since apparently this happened off-screen), but love? No way.

Regardless, this is a nice little story – if awfully short – and I enjoy how it ends in a turnaround. (Even if, god, use lube!)
All in all, this proved to be a promising start.

Lastly, a general complaint. People are doing this more and more so I will just take this opportunity to bitch.
“The pack leader of this land’s mate had borne a son” sounds extremely awkward and misleading. So the pack leader birthed a son? And the land has a mate? Try “the mate of this land’s pack leader” instead. It is still not that great but a lot less confusing. Ideally, one would restructure the sentence into something that flows better. My two cents.


Review of the entire series (book 1-14):

The following should be spoiler-free, but it's long so let me hide it anyway.

Beginning with the positives.

This series offers one of the best explanations for the overflow of same-sex pairings (nope, no neglect of the female side here) that I’ve ever seen, made better by the fact that it comes as a gradual realization to the characters, who for the longest while remain as mystified as anyone about the sudden influx of male pairings. It makes complete and perfect sense.
Of course, this same explanation would not work with some of the other series of this type around, due to the different mechanics of being a werewolf, and even in this series there’s still the question of why so many of the randomly turned werewolves turn out to have been gay all their life.
Regardless, I’m impressed and happy with this explanation. The simple explanations/solutions are the best – the ones that make you slap your forehead and go, “Why didn’t I see this earlier?”

Another good thing about the series? The protagonists feel like real people. And they feel like they’re actually guys, neither superheroes nor women in disguise.

There way the were society works makes sense as well. The wolf side, but also the social aspect. If you are living in seclusion like that, money will be difficult to come by, same as medical assistance and advances in technology. Excellent execution.
No one has all the answers. There’s no powerful being to address, and not even a centralized government for weres that I can see. This seems realistic, under the given parameters for how the packs work.

Some of the supernatural elements are somewhat out there, yet this adds variety to the stories. The author certainly is not scared to go to extremes. (Coming back from the dead, ghosts with active love lives, reincarnation, magical ponds…)
This also applies to the levels of gore. While I am not usually a fan of brutality and bloodshed, this does fit the theme of werewolves and anything less would take away from the unforgiving nature of fights to the death. Plus (instances of magical healing notwithstanding) injuries tend to have consequences in an uncompromising way.

Also, for all my previous bitching on the issue, there are mostly only mild teasers or hints for the next book, usually going no further than that. No real splitting of a story into several books just to get the cliff-hanger ending that is supposed to make readers eagerly await the next volume but just makes me grind my teeth and forget the context by the time the next book comes out.

Negatives? Mostly concerning sex.

Lube. First there is none at all, then they keep using things that won’t help much. Which is acknowledged; however that does not make up for the fact that this would result in not-so-great sex.

Condoms. Werewolves are not completely resistant to everything as in some other stories. But even allowing for a better immune system, the humans in these stories have no regard for their own safety either. And this is not acknowledged.
I really don’t like to have to think of protagonists as foolhardy and irresponsible without a damn good reason.

The author also has a penchant for injured sex, for making her protagonists engage in intercourse (usually rough) when one or both are in the most horrible condition. I don’t think this is physically possible.

Some story elements repeat. For me this is fine, since mostly (not always) there’s variation to the theme, exploring similar setups in different ways.

At times, especially at first but also in some of the later volumes, the romance happens way too fast for me. It’s suddenly love, or so we’re told. Still, I’ve seen this done in significantly more heavy-handed and unbelievable ways.

The writing has some issues and it is not the best. However! It is also far from bad. (I’ve had opportunity for direct comparison. *shudder*)

And there we have it. All in all, I am pleasantly surprised by this series and author. Nowhere near perfect, this series, but to me it was well worth reading.

[TT · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why? Why do I do these things? I feel like I’m going back to an old boyfriend I broke up with, despite the fact that he’s up to the same old tricks. So why am I reading a shifter series when I’ve read so many-too many, and matured in my tastes since then??? Well, I read something else by this author, and though the writing was shaky, it was also familiar and fun. And I liked this book well enough, and I actually thought the writing was decent. Good start to a series; it didn’t insult my intelligence, and had a good flow. My only complaint is that it was slightly boring. I’m going to try a couple other books by this author, and I probably will return to this series at some point, but there wasn’t anything compelling me to grab the next book. When I was reading Stormy Glenn and Lynn Hagen back when I first started reading MM books, I could barely make myself finish the one I was on before I was off to snag the next one. In this case, little mention is made of too many of the external characters, so I’m not pressed. Still, overall a decent book and worth it for me!

[blub · Rating 3 out of 5]

First book from this new author and it was well written and the story flowed really well albeit a bit predictable. There's not a lot of romancing in it but with the way the story was going it would have seemed a bit awkward if there was time for wooing and whatnot. It did get my blood running and was quite an enjoyable read. I will most definitely be keeping an eye on this author.

[Ter · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 good start to a series.
I will say I'm glad the bad guy dies, I'm sick of the same evil ones in series always getting away and going from book to book to book .

[Lizzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just don't have much to say about this one. It wasn't bad, but it also wasn't what I'd call a nice fluff story. Everything happened in too short a time span.

[Toofan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Audio book: Audio quality: Almost poor; Narration:Ok

[Ulaumes · Rating 2 out of 5]

For the series as a whole
Surprisingly dark for an mate series. Interesting in that it wasn't supposed to be insta-love, but is how it worked out most of the time anyway. On the personal side things seemed to resolve themselves too conveniently at times, but the non-personal side definitely tried to make up for it.

Definitely some unusual circumstances given though, vampire medium (mediums are supposed to be a race...maybe never well explained, and if so how did it get mixed in with born(?) vampires) and dead werewolf being a particularly noteworthy highlight.

[Brandilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This title was originally reviewed for Prism Book Alliance®

Brooke's narration fits the stories well. His gruff voice brings these gruff men/wolves to life. However, when the character calls for a softer touch, he delivers equally well. He is passionate in his delivery and draws you into the world Jacks has created.

For complete Review see http://www.prismbookalliance.com/?p=4...

[Toofan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The entertainment factor on his own deserves more than 2 stars , however this book has so many problems that looking at the whole picture 2 stars is a generous rating.
To begin with there are tones of typos, phrases which were supposed to be sentences and all kind of other editing problems.Then there is a lot of lazy and sloppy writing. The author crests conflicts but instead of solving them, just lets her characters change their mind, even though it is not only illogical with in the parameters of the story but ruin the purposes of introducing that conflicts in the first place.Further more the main characters are one dimensional and flat. The protagonists interactions is only based on Sex fueled by being mates. And finally even the sex scenes scream that they are written by a female and at that one who hasn't bother to do a proper research on the gay sex.

[ElaineY · Rating 3 out of 5]

REVIEW OF AUDIOBOOK; DECEMBER 1, 2014
Narrator: Peter B. Brooke

This turned out better than I expected. Even though these junkfood books I buy tend to be based on sex, and in most cases, healing or transforming sex, I confess to a liking for this type of prurient thrill...when I'm in the mood.

Not being too familiar with werewolf lore, I thought both bonded parties are supposed to feel the same lure and need towards each other. Not in this case because Corey, the human, was fighting it much of the way.

It's short, as most of these type of Siren books are, but did the job adequately of keeping me interested.

Peter B Brooke, the narrator, is a B list narrator for me. I don't get excited when I see his name on an audiobook I want, but I will buy it. He was okay here.

[Honey · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun, light read. I found myself smiling a lot at James’ inner dialogue and though Corey was the omega in the relationship, he was a fighter. This would have been a better read if the author hadn’t gone with the “alpha guilt trip” near the end, but I really liked how Corey dealt with it.

[~SexyBookWorm~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute book and a great way to start a series. James is an alpha who saves his mate from an abusive and psychopathic boyfriend...corey is leery of james and his werewolf status but begins to see there is mor to the man than the animal inside.

[Tiferet · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the more nicely written among the Neverending Shifters Series out there, which means tropey but not painfully formulaic, with decent worldbuilding and likeable characters who have a lot of satisfying, hot sex :)

[Phoenix · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although the author uses the same ideas several times I really liked this series. Especially since unlike Luna Werewolves there was some actually meat and direction to the story or stories, beyond two hot guys having sex.

[Addison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is one of my favorits series! I had read all the books and i will read them again for sure!!
The plot is good. Very captivated and original.
Is well written with the perfect dose of action, romance and drama, and introduce you to the other caracters and make you want to reed thery storys as well.

[Maya · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Stars Audible Edition

[Tj · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good start for a first book. I had some issues with the book but it was a light, fun read.

***Read October 2012 originally***

[Rachel Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was a good start to a new series. Nothing really new to the genre but still a fun light read.

[Tara Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

great read

[Isha · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay.

[b. binaohan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I... this was honestly too short for any real character development and I didn't really care about any of the characters. There wasn't a lot to get invested in.

[Lulu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book could've been longer, the events wizzed by fast. Still entertaining, shifter typical mate story.

[Kieri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read, a little tough to suspend my disbelief in a few places, but enjoyed it.