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Gillham Pack #10
Merle
Monsters aren’t always the obvious ones.
Merle isn’t the wolf he was before, and who could blame him? He was sold to the labs, then Tom, Alpha Erskine’s second, kidnapped and tortured him, leaving him for dead. Merle’s body has been healed, but his mind hasn’t, and he’s struggling with everyday life and nightmares. Add to that an overbearing mother, and his life is a mess.
Nootaw left his wendigo tribe a year before, but even though he hasn’t hurt anyone since then, people still regard him with fear and disgust. Not even moving to Gillham changed that, but he’s use to it by now. When Nootaw is asked to help find Merle, he doesn’t expect Merle to take a sniff at him and tell him they’re mates. Nootaw isn’t sure what to do with Merle, because everyone knows wendigoes don’t have mates.
Merle insists on giving Nootaw a chance, even though he might lose his mother over it. Then Nootaw disappears, reappearing with someone Merle hadn’t expected. Will Merle be able to leave his nightmares behind and be the man Nootaw needs him to be? And will Nootaw manage to get used to a life he’d never thought he could have?
Merle isn’t the wolf he was before, and who could blame him? He was sold to the labs, then Tom, Alpha Erskine’s second, kidnapped and tortured him, leaving him for dead. Merle’s body has been healed, but his mind hasn’t, and he’s struggling with everyday life and nightmares. Add to that an overbearing mother, and his life is a mess.
Nootaw left his wendigo tribe a year before, but even though he hasn’t hurt anyone since then, people still regard him with fear and disgust. Not even moving to Gillham changed that, but he’s use to it by now. When Nootaw is asked to help find Merle, he doesn’t expect Merle to take a sniff at him and tell him they’re mates. Nootaw isn’t sure what to do with Merle, because everyone knows wendigoes don’t have mates.
Merle insists on giving Nootaw a chance, even though he might lose his mother over it. Then Nootaw disappears, reappearing with someone Merle hadn’t expected. Will Merle be able to leave his nightmares behind and be the man Nootaw needs him to be? And will Nootaw manage to get used to a life he’d never thought he could have?
117 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 15, 2016
4 people are currently reading
48 people want to read
About the author
Catherine Lievens
337 books261 followersCatherine is the creator of several series, most of them paranormal, including the Whitedell Pride Series and the Gillham Pack Series. While she graduated in translation, she decided to go the writer’s way because it was more fun to create her own stories and characters.
She’s been living in Italy for more than twenty years, but she’s a daughter of the North—Belgium to be precise—and she misses it so much that she’s already planning to move back.
She loves pizza—probably too much —her pets, and of course, books. She sneaks some reading time in her schedule every time she has five minutes free from writing, demands from her various pets and son, and lastly, housework.
She’s been living in Italy for more than twenty years, but she’s a daughter of the North—Belgium to be precise—and she misses it so much that she’s already planning to move back.
She loves pizza—probably too much —her pets, and of course, books. She sneaks some reading time in her schedule every time she has five minutes free from writing, demands from her various pets and son, and lastly, housework.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 26, 2016
Summarizing this story is simple, but analyzing my feelings for it… not so much. I think this is NOT a standalone book – many in the series are fine by themselves, but this has WAY too many issues that are confusing unless you’ve been reading along both the Gillham and Whitedell series.
Basically, Merle is a twenty year old wolf shifter who had been previously abducted by the Glass Chemical company and experimented on then escaped only to be tortured by Tom, one of his ex-pack mates! The last left him suffering from PTSD and he is still wrecked by nightmares and living at home trying to re-enter his normal life again.
Nootaw is a Wendigo, the brother of Chogan who mated Jared and lives in Whitedell. Nootaw – unlike Chogan – did participate in the hunting and eating of humans and feels tremendous guilt about this, but has since “converted” away from that entirely and is currently training for being an Enforcer with the Gillham Pack.
When Merle and Nootaw realize they’re mates they face a whole bucket of problems. 1) Is Merle ready to mate at all? 2) Wendigoes don’t have mates, so will Nootaw even recognize the connection 3) Will Merle and the pack and Merle’s mother welcome a mating to a Wendigo like Nootaw?
Though they eventually answer these questions, another wrinkle appears in the form of Nootaws baby… so… at the very least these guys are going to have a tough go of it.
**
I think this book took on too many tough subjects and tried to mash it into one story. There were just too many complications and it was far too short of a book to really address even one of them satisfactorily.
I admire the attempt to “normalize” Nootaw’s past and to find a way to make it less “eww” that he used to hunt and eat people. I’m not sure that I completely got over the “eww” factor myself, but I did at least see how it would be possible given the explanation.
Merle, however, has so many things to overcome though. In no way did he address adequately his PTSD. I think the family objections got glossed over and “fixed” fairly haphazardly with a paragraph late in the book wherein his mother recants and apologizes and agrees to try. The fact that neither “mate” really had any healthy relationship history with which to model their current relationship wasn’t really addressed and I felt the sex part was a bit too easy for them. Finally, the nastiness with Tom and the fighting and then dealing with the new baby happened so quickly that it too felt underdeveloped and poorly addressed.
So… while I admire ALL the potential topics this book raises, I’m not sure it really adequately addressed ANY of them and they all came off as sort of fly-by-night.
While I will continue to read the series (it’s like crack to me – I just can’t stop!) this one was not my favorite.
2.5 of 5 stars
Basically, Merle is a twenty year old wolf shifter who had been previously abducted by the Glass Chemical company and experimented on then escaped only to be tortured by Tom, one of his ex-pack mates! The last left him suffering from PTSD and he is still wrecked by nightmares and living at home trying to re-enter his normal life again.
Nootaw is a Wendigo, the brother of Chogan who mated Jared and lives in Whitedell. Nootaw – unlike Chogan – did participate in the hunting and eating of humans and feels tremendous guilt about this, but has since “converted” away from that entirely and is currently training for being an Enforcer with the Gillham Pack.
When Merle and Nootaw realize they’re mates they face a whole bucket of problems. 1) Is Merle ready to mate at all? 2) Wendigoes don’t have mates, so will Nootaw even recognize the connection 3) Will Merle and the pack and Merle’s mother welcome a mating to a Wendigo like Nootaw?
Though they eventually answer these questions, another wrinkle appears in the form of Nootaws baby… so… at the very least these guys are going to have a tough go of it.
**
I think this book took on too many tough subjects and tried to mash it into one story. There were just too many complications and it was far too short of a book to really address even one of them satisfactorily.
I admire the attempt to “normalize” Nootaw’s past and to find a way to make it less “eww” that he used to hunt and eat people. I’m not sure that I completely got over the “eww” factor myself, but I did at least see how it would be possible given the explanation.
Merle, however, has so many things to overcome though. In no way did he address adequately his PTSD. I think the family objections got glossed over and “fixed” fairly haphazardly with a paragraph late in the book wherein his mother recants and apologizes and agrees to try. The fact that neither “mate” really had any healthy relationship history with which to model their current relationship wasn’t really addressed and I felt the sex part was a bit too easy for them. Finally, the nastiness with Tom and the fighting and then dealing with the new baby happened so quickly that it too felt underdeveloped and poorly addressed.
So… while I admire ALL the potential topics this book raises, I’m not sure it really adequately addressed ANY of them and they all came off as sort of fly-by-night.
While I will continue to read the series (it’s like crack to me – I just can’t stop!) this one was not my favorite.
2.5 of 5 stars
November 26, 2019
This is the first time I read about the wendigos in her universe so it was interesting to see. I think Merle's reaction was tame, but I guess I wouldn't want to think about the eating humans part either.
June 27, 2016
Title: Merle
Author: Catherine Lievens
Publisher: eXtasy Books
ISBN: 978-1-4874-0685-1
Buy Link: http://www.extasybooks.com/merle/?sea...
Reviewer: Teresa Fallen Angel
Blurb:
Gillham Pack 10
Monsters aren’t always the obvious ones.
Merle isn’t the wolf he was before, and who could blame him? He was sold to the labs, then Tom, Alpha Erskine’s second, kidnapped and tortured him, leaving him for dead. Merle’s body has been healed, but his mind hasn’t, and he’s struggling with everyday life and nightmares. Add to that an overbearing mother, and his life is a mess.
Nootaw left his wendigo tribe a year before, but even though he hasn’t hurt anyone since then, people still regard him with fear and disgust. Not even moving to Gillham changed that, but he’s use to it by now. When Nootaw is asked to help find Merle, he doesn’t expect Merle to take a sniff at him and tell him they’re mates. Nootaw isn’t sure what to do with Merle, because everyone knows wendigoes don’t have mates.
Merle insists on giving Nootaw a chance, even though he might lose his mother over it. Then Nootaw disappears, reappearing with someone Merle hadn’t expected. Will Merle be able to leave his nightmares behind and be the man Nootaw needs him to be? And will Nootaw manage to get used to a life he’d never thought he could have?
Summary:
The idea of eating human flesh is so repugnant to people that most people would pretty must never accept or trust anyone who had done that. This was what made Merle's ability to accept Nootow's past that more amazing. Merle's life was changed by not only the time he was taken by the Glass Research Company, but what was worse was when he was kidnapped and beaten by Tom, a werewolf who was determined to destroy not only the Gillham Pack, but the new council. Nootow, a wendigo, expected to live a solitary life until he met Merle and all bets were off. Merle and Nootow's love had to overcome not only prejudice, enemies who have vowed to destroy the pack, but Merle's own mother who refused to accept the love that Merle has been looking for. This story was an incredible edition to the Gillham Pack series.
Author: Catherine Lievens
Publisher: eXtasy Books
ISBN: 978-1-4874-0685-1
Buy Link: http://www.extasybooks.com/merle/?sea...
Reviewer: Teresa Fallen Angel
Blurb:
Gillham Pack 10
Monsters aren’t always the obvious ones.
Merle isn’t the wolf he was before, and who could blame him? He was sold to the labs, then Tom, Alpha Erskine’s second, kidnapped and tortured him, leaving him for dead. Merle’s body has been healed, but his mind hasn’t, and he’s struggling with everyday life and nightmares. Add to that an overbearing mother, and his life is a mess.
Nootaw left his wendigo tribe a year before, but even though he hasn’t hurt anyone since then, people still regard him with fear and disgust. Not even moving to Gillham changed that, but he’s use to it by now. When Nootaw is asked to help find Merle, he doesn’t expect Merle to take a sniff at him and tell him they’re mates. Nootaw isn’t sure what to do with Merle, because everyone knows wendigoes don’t have mates.
Merle insists on giving Nootaw a chance, even though he might lose his mother over it. Then Nootaw disappears, reappearing with someone Merle hadn’t expected. Will Merle be able to leave his nightmares behind and be the man Nootaw needs him to be? And will Nootaw manage to get used to a life he’d never thought he could have?
Summary:
The idea of eating human flesh is so repugnant to people that most people would pretty must never accept or trust anyone who had done that. This was what made Merle's ability to accept Nootow's past that more amazing. Merle's life was changed by not only the time he was taken by the Glass Research Company, but what was worse was when he was kidnapped and beaten by Tom, a werewolf who was determined to destroy not only the Gillham Pack, but the new council. Nootow, a wendigo, expected to live a solitary life until he met Merle and all bets were off. Merle and Nootow's love had to overcome not only prejudice, enemies who have vowed to destroy the pack, but Merle's own mother who refused to accept the love that Merle has been looking for. This story was an incredible edition to the Gillham Pack series.
November 8, 2016
This title was originally reviewed for Prism Book Alliance®
I am seriously out of things to say about this series at this point. We are 28 books in if youcount the Whitedell and Gillham books together. I can't recommend enough reading them together in order because the two worlds are so tightly entwined, you really can't have one without the other.
For complete Review see http://www.prismbookalliance.com/?p=4...
March 22, 2016
Merle (Gillham Pack Book 10)
This was just as great as the ones before it and I can't wait to read the next one in this series and I hope it's soon...I will be watching for the next one.....
This was just as great as the ones before it and I can't wait to read the next one in this series and I hope it's soon...I will be watching for the next one.....
May 13, 2016
This book picked up the pace in the series a bit again. I like that the over all story of the series was allowed to develop a bit more than in the other recent books. However, that doesn't save this book from being predictable and the romance from making you yawn.
March 17, 2016
Another great installment into the series, glad to see another wendigo get his mate! I always look forward to more in both this and the Whitedell series.
March 23, 2016
Love the book
March 23, 2016
Enjoyable book, although I would loved some closure with the mom and how they're going to raise the baby. And more of a closure with Merle amd his mom.
March 25, 2016
Good book
It's great seeing people overcoming fear and prejudices. Love and acceptance win out. Poor Noah and microwaves!!! Buy it, try it.
It's great seeing people overcoming fear and prejudices. Love and acceptance win out. Poor Noah and microwaves!!! Buy it, try it.
March 26, 2016
3.5 stars
April 8, 2017
VERY raw notes, may contain spoilers but probably nothing major.
3.65 stars
3.65 stars
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews