Marked

Northern Shifters #1

by Joely Skye

Marked as prey, Alec refuses to fall for a werewolf. Until he's forced to turn to Liam for protection.

Alec Ryerson carries a scar over his heart and scars on his psyche, ugly reminders of a nightmare that still doesn't seem quite real. Even a year later, he stays inside on full-moon nights and avoids most people until he meets the strange and beautiful Liam.

Liam feels an undeniable pull toward Alec. However Liam is a werewolf; Alec is a human who clearly has trepidations about a relationship. Then Liam discovers he is not the first werewolf Alec has encountered. Alec has been marked for death by the murderous "quad," a group of twisted werewolves who prey on humans. Now the quad's sights are set on recruiting Liam's eight-year-old brother into their murderous pack.

Liam will do everything in his power to protect both his brother and Alec from the wolves, even if it means calling in favors and killing those with whom he once ran. Because Alec, like it or not, is Liam's chosen mate.

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

188 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 4, 2007

About the author

Joely Skye has written for more years than she can remember. Her latest writing passion is romance and shapeshifters. She lives with her husband and two children in Canada.

To learn more about Joely Skye, please visit www.joelyskye.com or her Yahoo Group.

She also writes as Jorrie Spencer (www.jorriespencer.com).

Reviews

[Jyanx · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my new favorite shifter novels. I like the balance in the relationship.

[DaisyGirl · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 Stars

So I'm in the minority once again. I didn't care for this one. I couldn't relate to either Liam or Alec. The writing seemed choppy and stilted or perhaps that was more a function of the nature of their relationship. They were odd ducks wolv...normals...whatever. They were odd balls. *snorts* I didn't dig 'em. Fair enough?

I gave 1-star for Ira and Claire because they were cute and cuddly and made the story bearable. *snickers*

Bottom line: I never warmed up to either MC and the back story (what/why/how was the Quad?) was never explained.

[atmatos · Rating 1 out of 5]

Maybe it was the weather, but I found this book to be depressing, and just not my cup of tea. My friend told me the later books are better, and if I get them for free I might give them a try.

[Sergey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was….a departure of sorts; not my usual type of read, all that fantasy, sci-fi, werewolves, etc. It was certainly erotic, I will give it that (it was embarrassing reading it in public the sex scenes and fidgeting to hide a raging hardon, but no complaints on the eroticism from both heads). Otherwise, not very well plotted or fitted with complex, likeable characters; confusing dialogue and point of view did not add to the experience. Perhaps that is the given to any romance novels; I wouldn’t know, for this was a first venture into that genre as well. Now that I think about it, the sex scenes, albeit intense, were too intense, what with mild roughness and violence; not what I would call romantic.

[Jo * Smut-Dickted * · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm giving it 3 stars because it got really good about 1/2 way through. Up until then it was choppy with fractured writing that kept pulling me out of the story. It's been a while since I read through something like that - strange stuff. I did like the story and, as noted, it really got good with plot about mid way in. The sex was o.k. but nothing too hot - although frequently rough which I like. It sets things up pretty well for sequels.

[Elisa Rolle]

This is I think the most unusual werewolf story I have ever read. Alec is a young gay man. We don't have much physical description about him, but I can imagine him like a nice guy, handsome but not stunning. And he has had a very bad experience one year before with a quad of rogue werewolfes which has left him with scars on the body and in the mind. He fears anything and anyone. So when Liam, the older brother of a child he has known in the library where he works, begins to approach him, Alec reacts badly.To be true Liam is not much of a word, and his sexual approaches are a little rough. But Alec, despite his mind screams abuse, finds his body react to this man.

Liam is a very young (24 years old) and very hansome man. He could have anyone he wants but he has a strange behaviour and most people go away after the first encouter. And now he has a little brother to take care and so it's almost two years that he hasn't met no one. But what he draws him to Alec, is not only sexual need, it's also the calling of his mate. Cause Liam is a werewolf and now he has to protect not only his little brother from the rogue quad, but also his new-found mate.

Liam is an alpha male but he really doesn't act like that. He is tender and uncertain. He has strong feeling and hard reaction, but he is also very young, so he really doesn't understand all what happening around him. Alec is somewhat more adult, but he has fear. He doesn't trust no one, but he is not a bad man, so when Ian approaches him more like a wrestler than a lover, his first impulse is to refuse him, but then he maybe sees the need of physical contact in the eye of the younger man.

I really have some problem to well describe what has drawn me in this book. It's maybe the writing style, or the strong connection I can feel between the two characters. It's maybe the fact that both men are really strong but at the same time they show weakness and a need to be hold into the arms of a lover. The sexy is very hot, but "realistic": they fight and then they make sex and after sex they are too tired to continue the fight... a really good way to stop the fighting!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0015Z7V7O/?...

[BookAddict ✒ La Crimson Femme · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alec and Liam are mates. Alec is a human who's been dragged into the werewolf world. His introduction hasn't been so good. Fortunately, Liam isn't like the Quad, even if he was part of it a while ago. This story was basically one family dysfunction after another. I didn't know families could be quite this f-ed up. Apparently it can be.

The first few chapters of this book left me completely confused. I thought this was book one of the series. I wasn't sure what was going on because it felt as if there were lots of back history I should know but didn't know. For example, what was the Quad? Trey was part of the FBI but no longer? What is wrong with Alec? What happen to Ira? Many of these questions were never answered. Still I enjoyed this book. It was a rather fast read. It was sweet with a happily ever after.

Ms. Skye writes in a captivating manner. I read the book easily in one sitting. I recommend this to people who like paranormal romances mixed with m/m.

[Susan65 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this. My first thought when i think of how to describe this story is to compare it to the Planet of the Apes. I know it sounds strange but seriously, instead of apes having humans as pets, its werewolves. This is a different kind of shifter book but absolutely one of the better ones I've read. It grabs from the prologue and keeps its hooks in you throughout the entire story. My only complaint was that it ended.

Liam is a great alpha werewolf who looks after his little brother Ira. Ira befriends Alec and decides to play matchmaker for his brother. Alec is human and lived in fear of wolves after being marked. Can Liam get Alec to trust him and protect from the psycho werewolves that want to use him as prey in their sick game? Of course...its still a romance silly.

[Heather C · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this story. I think I would have enjoyed it more if there would have been more sexual tension instead of sex so early, but then the plot line wouldn't have worked. This was paranormal romance but it didn't involve a whole bunch of world building and was easy to understand. I liked both Alex and Liam, and even the two little kids Ira and Claire. Not really funny or angsty, just a little suspense maybe. I definitely want to read the rest of the series.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

Really impressed with this story. It was a refreshingly different take on Werewolves and the plot was well paced. The author was able to show the passage of time without boring me getting off topic, there was also a nice build up of tension followed by plenty of action.

I loved the kids and even the baddie was pretty cool is a psychopathic way. The sex was supernova hot but at times realistically awkward at times.

I can recommend it to all and I look forward to the next

[Wyndslash · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I wanted to know and was not addressed in this book was the reason the MC was given over to the quad in the first place... o_O

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book more than I expected to. It's a light read: I finished it in a single evening. But it's entertaining, successfully maintains the suspense until the end (I actually only meant to read for half an hour, and ended up finishing the whole thing), and I enjoyed the relationship between "normal" Alec and werewolf Liam.

I thought the author did a nice, subtle job of capturing Liam's "otherness." I wish we had been able to go a little further with that, and how it would impact his relationship with Alec.

Along those lines, my biggest criticism is that a plot thread went unresolved. It's a B-story, but I was actually shocked when the story came to a close, because I was expecting that element to be addressed in some kind of epilogue or afterward. (It has to do with sexual politics: who's the top, who's the bottom?) Perhaps the author intends a sequel with these characters? I wouldn't mind; I'd definitely read a follow-up.

[Shadow Jubilee · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

It's hard to analyze or even tease out what parts of the book I liked and what failed for me - or to do so in a succinct and coherent manner.

I liked it, the first half mostly. Further into the second half, I started feeling more detached from the characters and the story. I started reading the words but not exactly being immersed by them. I liked Alec, and his relationship with Ira and Claire.

Most of the time, I felt like I was missing some background story, especially regarding Veronica. It was confusing. The story felt disjointed, not cohesive. The plot didn't make sense. Some details were not explained satisfactorily. I thought that there was a little too much exposition but it didn't felt like an info dump. I was confused about this whole alpha business. It was a little frustrating because I liked what the book was trying to be, but I thought that this book could have been better.

[Ami · Rating 4 out of 5]

Combination of writing style, story, and characters make me feel drawn to the book so much. The two main characters, Liam (a young Alpha werewolf male), and Alec (a young man), have this connection that pulls me into their world. The sex sometimes seems rough, especially since Liam is an Alpha so he wants Alec to submit, but there is also tenderness there. The obstacles that they have to go through, the ordeal of Alec being marked by a very bad werewolves and kept as pet, the sweet, SWEET, interaction with two young kids ... I will just say that this book is emotional and I really enjoy reading it

[Deanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read the first three books of this series out of order, but that did not detract from the individual stories. This was not my favorite but I did enjoy it. I like the feeling of family among people/weres that were not blood related. They truly spoke to what family is or should be. The blood relations were not always family. I like the realistic actions of the "pups". They were delightful. I like the mystery of Trey. I liked the recurring characters. This is again the story of two damaged individuals being healed by love. Not a bad idea. A good story, just not as good as the author's others.

[Wendy❤Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. There were aspects of this story that felt like I should know more about, things I ended up piecing together in my own way (primarily about the Quad and why Alec was Marked). The relationship between Alec and Liam was all rough and tumble – no softness and a bit of an ongoing struggle for dominance. The children were integral to the story and really quite adorable. I enjoyed some of the unique elements to this one and hope to gain a little more understanding in the following books.

[Snowtulip · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I finally truly understand Laddie's crack attack shelf (Mmmm, brain candy).

Can't stop reading this book, the next book, and then I'll be on book 3 before you know it.

Not anything truly out of the norm or amazing, and some of the situations and responses are things that might annoy me in other situations, but for some reason I am just eating this story up (and the second one). I hate when I can't pinpoint something like this...but I apparently have a Joely Skye addiction now :D Must have brain candy on numerous occasions.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this was my first Joely Skye book and I really, really like her writing style. No wasted words and not overly descriptive, just right. A great story of a man "marked" by werewolves and the man who is to be his mate. No real angst or tears and the sex was pretty hot. Not smoking up the pages, but decent enough. I'm pretty sure that I now have to read any other books in the series. Damn, more books added to my to-read pile.

[JustJen "Miss Conduct" · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this story. Alec has been through so much, it is hard not to feel for him as he comes to accept things. Liam continually suppresses his alpha tendencies to ease the way for Alec, and I really loved them together. The children are adorable, and hope to see more of them in other books. I'm definitely going to try the next one in this series.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

review to come...

Borrowed in the 2015 December Free-For-All in Bookie Nookie's Erotic Lending Group

[Nene · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this. It had some interesting twists to the wolf world that I found enjoyable. I'm looking forward to seeing where the series goes from here.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book - couldn't put it down. I fell in love with the characters immediately. The plot was interesting and unique. I'm looking forward to reading more of the series.

[Audra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the difference in werewolf society. I loved the somewhat uncommon character names. I was pleasantly surprised by the differences from traditional werewolves.

[Shelby · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

[FoxClouds · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal rating: 3.5 stars

[Sharon Kurtz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This m/m romance was a decent read. There was not a lot of depth to the story but it was well paced, the grammer and editing was good. The only problem I had was with Alec in that he says he likes to 'top' and he is an alpha personality too but I thought he was a little wimpy. I am trying to give him the benefit of the doubt as his world has been turned upside down in a very short space of time. Good story though.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was alright. It's not the best werewolf book I've read, nor the worst. It had the same issues with dominance and consent that a lot of these books do, but it made attempts to keep it to a minimum, at least. I was still uncomfortable here and there, but not enough to stop reading.

In the end, what frustrated me the most was the hand-wavy climax. I mean, there was no way in HELL that Gabriel should have been able to drag off an unconscious Alec while two fully grown werewolves were right there to stop him. How the fuck did he escape that? And then Veronica had the nerve to be offended when Liam asked how the hell it happened, saying "we weren't just standing around doing nothing," when, clearly, they were. Well, aside from David — a human. Thank fuck for David.

But, even then, how did one werewolf — one carrying a fully grown human — manage to escape two young, strong werewolves? It makes no sense!

I mean, FINE, I understand it was to give the book a dramatic ending, but it pissed me off that Skye didn't even care enough to make it believable. Alec apparently had to get kidnapped (again) for the sake of drama, so it happened, even if there was no way it could have. I hate that.

Still, it wasn't a terrible read up until that point. I'm not sure if I will continue the series, but I do have the second book lying around, so we'll see. I did quite like the werewolves themselves and the world as a whole, but... yeah. Maybe.

[Charly · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting take on werewolves, but I found the story a little uneven

Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.

Rating: 6/10

PROS:
- I’ve read a fair number of werewolf stories, and they all have some basic similarities (the draw of the full moon, heightened sense of smell, mating for life, etc.). Many of those fundamentals are present in this story, but Skye treats some of them differently than most writers do (how/when a wolf recognizes his mate, for example). I found the slight differences from traditional werewolf lore intriguing.
- The premise is an interesting idea: that a werewolf’s mate would be terrified of werewolves because he’d been attacked by others in the past. The relationship faces some definite difficulties as a result of this, but Liam is, for the most part, sweet and gentle and understanding of Alec’s hesitation.
- I liked the sense of community among the characters. Some romances focus so much on the two (or three) main characters that there’s not much time or room left for secondary characters, but that’s not the case here. There are several other werewolves and humans who play important roles in the story, and they form a nice little non-traditional family.

CONS:
- Almost all of the sex scenes (and there are at least 5 or 6, told in varying degrees of detail) fell flat for me. For one thing, the characters both claim to prefer the same sexual role, but they only ever have sex one way--that is, Alec always fills one role and Liam always fills the other. They even have a fairly in-depth top-bottom discussion, and after a while, I thought the author was simply building up toward a concluding scene in which the guys would finally switch roles…but it never happened.
- The plot is fairly primary in this book, and by that I mean that the relationship doesn’t overshadow the action as is the case in, say, Bite by Sean Michael. However, the plot is the slightest bit anticlimactic at times, especially at the very end. The final face-off with the bad guys is far less tense and exciting than a similar face-off that occurs earlier in the book.
- The writing is a little on the odd and jumpy side. I wasn’t able to read the story quickly; sometimes, the sentences and paragraphs just didn’t seem to flow terribly well from one to the next. On a couple of occasions, I actually had to stop and backtrack a few lines to make sure I hadn’t skipped a sentence or a line of text.

Overall comments: I didn’t dislike this book by any means; I just didn’t love it, either. The ending, while happy on the relationship front, left far too much unresolved for my taste, and the writing didn’t flow in a way that made me think of the book as an “easy” read.

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two and half stars. It started out strong but waited way too long to clarify what exactly is going on. If it wasn't for the blurb we wouldn't know that Alec was kidnapped and marked as prey by werewolves nor that Liam is a werewolf until halfway through the book The writing was grammatically correct, but the punctuation was a mess. I think the author was going for artistic but the end result was disjointed and hindered my ability to comprehend the narrative. I found myself constantly rereading passages, making this a slog to get through.

I did however like the awkward relationship between the two men. While I'm not big on kids, the two werewolf children were charming and their interactions with Liam and Alec revealed a great deal about their personalities. The story had a lot of potential and was more ambitious then the typical M/M shifter but it felt half-baked. The organization was weak, too many things were never explained and the ending was rushed. It really felt like this was just the first half of the story so I was surprised to see that the next book features a different couple.

[Unapologetic_Bookaholic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Joely Skye was able to make a simple theme brew with feeling and emotion.

I love shifter romance. I love m/m shifter romance even more. Alec having to work through his tortured past and try to convince himself not to fall for a man he so obviously is falling for. The internal struggle Alec goes through was touching. To see him have to face the fact that his new lover is like the people he had be tortured and abused by. The man he wants to trust his heart to is a wolf.

Liam is an alpha that is willing to give up his control to his new lover. His mate. He can see that Alec needs to throw him on his back and tell him "Fight back." As he is tugging at his belt buckle. The pain Alec is in is from being marked and Liam knows who did it. He wants to make them pay.

The story is chalk full of characters and each have their story to tell. The novel moves quickly. I would say the sex scenes are tender not explicit as the back of the book describes.