The Angry Dove and the Assassin

Wayne County Wolves #5

by Stephani Hecht

Years ago, Dove Shifter Caley lost his entire family to Wolf shifters. When he had to take refuge with the Wayne County Wolves, he was less than happy. But he has adjusted—more or less. Then a war breaks out with another pack, and the Alpha is forced to hire a group of assassins to help them out, one of which is a Wolf named Grey—the biggest, scariest Wolf Caley has ever seen. Terrified, Caley vows to avoid him, even as he finds himself strangely attracted to Grey at the same time.

The moment Grey sees the small, yet sexy, Dove, he knows he wants him. The problem is the Dove avoids talking to him, let alone get up close and personal. Then the pack is attacked, and Caley is in danger. Will Caley learn to trust Grey in time? Or will his fear cause him to pay the ultimate price?

Genres: M M Romance, Shapeshifters, Paranormal, Romance, M M Paranormal, Werewolves, Contemporary

117 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2013

About the author

Stephani Hecht is a happily married mother of two. Born and raised in Michigan, she loves all things about the state, from the frigid winters to the Detroit Red Wings hockey team. Go Wings! You can usually find her snuggled up to her laptop, creating her next book or gorging on caffeine at her favorite coffee shop.

When she’s not running around like crazy, trying to get her kids to their various activities, she’s currently working on numerous projects. In the coming months, she has several books coming out with eXtasy Books in both The Lost Shifter Series and Drone Vampire Chronicles, plus a few additional projects that are still in the development stages.

Visit Stephani on the web at:
Email her at:
archangelwriter@yahoo.com

Reviews

[Ter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I usually love this series and the Lost Shifters series......but
I think this series along with the Lost Shifters Series has seen "enough" of the bad guys. It's starting to out weight the good guys and getting kinda tiring of more popping up.
They have - Ravens, the Snakes, the Spiders, the Hyenas, the human hunters, Rand and his group and NOW 4 assassins "four of the worst, cutthroat bastards out there." (Shane's words from bk)
There are so many it's starting to take away from the story for me, it's like now what will be coming after them.

And if Rand is such a badass and has the funds for rocket launchers etc and hire 4 assassins why didn't he fight for his own land in the beginning.

[Yvonne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not expecting great literature from a Stephani Hecht book but what you normally get are fun stories with a lot of hot, adrenaline rush action. Unfortunately, for this book what we get is an underdeveloped romance & a plot that involved a lot of macho posturing by both the good & bad guys but one that had you questioning by the end if anything of real significance happened.

Caley is a dove shifter who’s now living with the Wayne County wolves. He’s depicted as both thankful for the sanctuary they’ve offered him but also fearful of them as his entire family was killed by wolf shifters. He has been isolating himself from them by staying in his sewing workroom even while willingly making their clothes. His friends, in an attempt to get him out of his shell, convince him to come out to view the new hired assassins.

We get all this build up of a scared traumatized Caley, but when he spots the large wolf shifter assassin named Grey, he does a complete turnaround. He shoves his way through the crowd of wolf shifters, boldly approaches Grey and flirts with him and practically throws himself at him. He’s not angry like the title suggests unless that’s a euphemism for crazy with lust. Seeing Grey also seems to instantly cure him of shyness or doubts as he shows no fear whatsoever.

The inconsistencies between the way Caley is described and his actions almost makes you wonder if the author got the notes about her characters all mixed up. It’s not good for the story as Caley & Grey get together way too easily and they have a paint by numbers type of romance. It was all very anticlimactic and the lack of tension made it even boring.

Because the romance is anemic, the book relies on the assassins and the pack war as the main driver of the story. The assassins hired by the wolf pack are different species of shifters raised together by an abusive master and they include besides Grey, a female fox shifter Tabitha, a tiger shifter Simon and a cold & unfeeling leopard shifter named Toby. Toby & Simon seem to be more interesting characters than Grey but even they are defeated by the meandering plot. I kept waiting for the great confrontation between the ultimate bad guy Rand and the assassins but it never happened. Instead it ends on stalemate with things no better nor worse than they were before.

Instead of a complete story this novella felt more like a filler and a way to introduce some new characters but not much more than that. There’s nothing terribly wrong with it, but there’s also nothing here that grabs you. If you decide to skip it I doubt you’d really miss anything. I think this one needed the romance to pull you in as there’s not enough in the plot to sustain interest. I’d say this story is one mainly for the fans of the series.

Reviewed on Hearts on Fire

[Hc · Rating 3 out of 5]

While on the super fast track of meet, fall for, get attached, and become mates as the author has done with several of latest books... I found it to be cute.

I found the blurb to be a tad misconstrued.
"The problem is the Dove avoids talking to him, let alone get up close and personal."
The VERY first time Caley sees Grey (when he enters the compound) he ends up right next to him and flirting. When Grey sees him the next day, nerves and a bit of shyness kicks in and they still end up getting a little hot and heavy before duty calls for Grey.

BUT.. Why on earth did we have to add in Rand.. this could drag out forever and now that Chris got some help in the way of assassins... drum roll please.... Yep you got it, 4 badasses of assassins are now working for Rand.. Tit for Tat.

Oh, and Toby.. it's like trying to redo Shane... wait.. it IS! Both grew up with 'brothers' who were (used to be) the only ones they gave a crap about, both assassins hard trained by dickhead 'master', both leopards.. I'm sorry I'm going to need the author to NOT recreate a POPULAR character and slap another name on him.

[~♥ Elle ♥~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected Caley to be more resistant to his attraction to Grey considering his history. Their relationship progressed too smoothly. Wish the book was longer and had better proofreading.

[Alyse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Caley and Grey's relationship...

Onlin thing is that their relationship was almost too easy. Caley is supposed to be very afraid of Wolves. Grey is described as teh biggest and scariets Wolf he's ever seen. And while I'm glad he wasn't afraid of his mate, he seemed too at easy in the Assassin's arms.

I wouldn't have minded a little more angst with thie relationship.


I did however love the twist and can't wait for more in the series!!!

[T. · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is more of a 3.5. I wish that I didn't have to highlight the editing mistakes to these books in my Kindle. Sighs. I do like this series, love Ms. Hecht's work but really wish the editors at the publishing house would do a better job.

[Erticchic378 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5.... Could have been higher, but while the build up was great, the ending was way to abrupt. Meet, action, explainations, mate, love, cliffhanger with no plan , no direction, sigh

[☔️ Stormy Day Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review is for all of the Lost Shifters, Wayne County Wolves, and Assassin's Loyalty books since they are all interconnected and I read them back-to-back pretty much nonstop over a 10 day period. If I have anything to say about a particular book I'll add it under this bulk review. First, I'd like to mention these are more like novellas than books but they have the same underlying theme and pretty much continue where the last left off but with a different couple.

Everything starts out with the Lost Shifters. To summarize there was a war between the feline shifters and the raven shifters. 20 years or so before the first book there was an all out slaughter in which hundreds of feline homes were attacked and burned down all of the occupants believed to be killed. Turns out that the babies and toddlers that were assumed lost were not. They were hidden within the human foster care system for the most part. I won't say how because that'd be a big spoiler. In addition to foster care some kids were sold into slavery and that's where the whole assassin thing comes in. A couple of the main characters marry into the wolf pack so that's where those books come in as well.

Pros: Since the books are so short there are no long drawn out boring details or general angst. There's usually only one sex scene although it's normally long as hell. Which makes the fact some people shelved these as erotica confusing. I liked the world building and even though there were times I think a little more info might have been nice it never detracted from the story or left me confused. Most of the relationships were a sort of love at first sight thing. Or maybe lust or obsession? Despite this the shifters all seem adamant that's not a thing that happens. There wasn't one character I didn't like. My favorite character was Shane and he must have been the author's as well since he got a few extra books and a side series Shane's Chronicles. There's no big end battle or anything but the last book Baily's 9th Life does pretty much tie things up nicely. I think if I'd been reading the series when they were released I'd be a bit miffed because that book didn't come out until a few years later if you weren't reading the assassins books. Also, these books all have some really funny moments and/or dialog.

Cons: The last several books didn't appear to have been edited at all. If if wasn't for the fact that I was so invested in the overall story arc I would have quit reading them. Things like sent instead of scent and too instead of to they instead of them and random wrong words completely. There were also a couple of times that things were said/thought almost verbatim in different parts of a book as if the author forgot she'd already put that info in there already. At the start of the series, they state that all feline shifters are bisexual but at some point the author must have forgotten that detail because suddenly there are gay shifters and homophobia and all this hate. Which brings me to my next con, the themes of the different books started to repeat. Suddenly all these shifters had been thrown out of their previous pack or coalition or human home for being gay. And throughout this huge series of books there was only one straight couple. Like not even a straight friend or whatever. Even the females were all lesbians. It was just kinda unrealistic especially with the whole gay hate thing going on. Usually there's at least a few couples or friends or something on the periphery in gay romances especially in a world this huge. Which brings me to my final con, I had a hard time remembering who was who and what there story was after awhile especially if they weren't mentioned much in previous books. I wish there had been some sort of glossary to review.

Despite the cons, I would still recommend these books. All-in-all I really enjoyed them and was dreading the end although the editing in the last few books really had me also looking forward to the end if I'm being honest.

[Gabby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well.. SHANEEE. I loooove him and Toby is funn also simon. 4*

[Asterope · Rating 2 out of 5]

Random thoughts:
1. The cover compared to previous books is far better and appealing.

2. Not sure where the "angry" part came in with the title. Caley seemed more avoidant than angry. It didn't seem to fit the story as much, the title that is.

3. Toby = Shane. Basically. They could be twins with their behavior, history, etc. Some other review already pointed this out.

While I'm partly annoyed with this, I do like these types of characters and I like seeing them learn to feel and love. No doubt the beagle shifter (forgot his name!) will be his mate later on. So, I'm not going to bitch too much about the similarities. I just hope his story isn't the same as Shane's was. Then I won't be a happy camper.

4. There wasn't much romance in the story. Most of the time, Grey and Caley weren't really together. There was the bombing and stuff going on. It just felt very rushed. I got that they were attracted to each other and, though they knew each other for a short time, cared about each other. I didn't really feel or see their love. Not like some of the other mates previous.

5. I am curious why, especially with all the other shifter/vampire/etc stories in her series, they see their mate and know right away, often saying, "mine!" -- I'm wondering why this pair didn't do that. Was it because Grey is an assassin? Or something else? It seemed a bit weird when that's what has happened 99% of the time before. They even seemed unsure that they were mates? It just reminded me of couples who don't want to say "I love you" first in case the other didn't feel the same way.

[Omega696 · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was bad. It was seriously bad. Besides, who wrote that blurb? It doesn't match the story at all! When and where was Dove avoiding the Big Bad Wolf? Because I certainly didn't notice. It's more like he almost jumped Gray in front of the entire pack after first glance at the guy. Unles we count this little reverie Caley had while working, which lasted about few seconds and flew out of the window the moment Gray appeard in a doorway.
What's more... The dialogues. What the hell is up with those dialogues?

“A bomb hit my workshop,” Caley explained.
“You look like shit.”

You don't say.

And the assassins. They were supposed to be scary and all. They're not. Professional? Nope. Inteligent? Oh, wait, was that a bomb flying there? Where did it come from...

It's not like I don't read second rate books. I do. I even like some of them. As for this one I still don't know why I bothered to finish it. But it's done. Never again.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

I rated this as okay, because that's exactly what it was. There was no real romance story here. Boy met boy. They kissed and then they were together. Nothing in the way, no obstacles. Very blah.

The true purpose of this story was to push forward the whole attacks on the compound agenda. Which never drew me in. Of course let's not forget forcing us to listen to how important Cassie is or how great and tough the woman is. I wish the author would just mentally do her and give us readers a break from her infatuation.

I'll check out the next one, but I'm not really excited about it. I'm just going to keep hoping that spark this series used to have comes back magically.

[Phaney · Rating 2 out of 5]

Y’know. People don’t actually bat their eyes (gross!) – they bat their lashes.

How sad is it that this little story contains only two sex scenes, yet it still could have done with a lot less of them? I wonder if it’s really just me who lacks interest in these. I mean they’re so very exchangeable across the entire series and its parent. I don’t know…

Anyhow, I find it weird that for both Hale (his name was Hale up to now) and Caley the budding romances that were set up in their intro book seem to have fallen flat without mention. Did the author forget? Or was she just hoping the readers had forgotten?

[~SexyBookWorm~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fluffy... but ok. I just wish the author would stop introducing new groups of characters for awhile. I feel like we get new groups of characters in almost every book but we don't mate them all before starting a new group. This book introduced a group of 4 assassins. currently there are like 3 or 4 groups of characters. I think it makes the series a little confusing..

[Candice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Caley and Grey! Man, I really liked these two. I liked how Caley was scared to come out of his workroom, because he's a dove in a house full of wolves. I liked how the second he saw Grey he was drawn to him. I liked how Grey followed through and his protective streak came into play. Yeah, these two were great :)

[Ada · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only reason I'm continuing this serie is because I liked it in the beginning, when everything was still interesting.

Now I think the description sounds way more exciting than the book itself... (-_-')

[~RMG · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title and the summary were a bit misleading. Caley flirted with Grey from the moment they met, and the danger he faced had nothing to do with his trust in Grey or his being a wolf. Other than that, I found it to be an okay read.

[Lizzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the story in general but was disappointed by the blurb. Caley never seems afraid of or avoids Grey. In fact the very first time they meet Caley begins flirting with Grey. Beyond that the storyline doesn't vary from the normal formula for these stories.

[Ericka Walden · Rating 3 out of 5]

....... Needed a little more..... Something.

[Heather♥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Tara Mcmillan · Rating 5 out of 5]

It just keeps getting better.

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I Still love this serie...

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started out good but dawdled n lost interest.

[Smurphette_Jelly_Bean Bookshelf · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars!

[Julie scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Angry Dove and the Assassin (Wayne County Wolves Book 5)

This was great i loved it and I can't wait to read more of this series and I will be reading it next...

[andrea moran · Rating 5 out of 5]

WCW 5

A team of assassins are called in to help protect the pack against R and the resident dove shifter finds that he doesn’t hate all wolves after all