Alison Masterson has been in love with werewolf Brody Donovan since she was twelve years old. Now he's the alpha of the Donovan pack, and she's just a waitress at the local diner, dreaming of the man she can never have. Until the night she accidentally discovers his secret. Brody Donovan has never noticed the pretty redhead who would do anything for him. But now he needs her to keep a secret—and he's starting to realize she's his mate. The problem is, he can't deserve her. Because Shifter Falls is about to enter into a dangerous war with humans. And the secret Alison knows is only the beginning of his terrible past...
The Shifter Falls Series Book 1: Rebel Wolf - out now Book 2: Lover Wolf - out now Book 3: Warrior Wolf - out now
This is the long-awaited fourth book, and I liked it better than the other three. The plot centers on Brody, the Alpha of the Donovan brothers’ pack, and Alison, a waitress at the local diner who (as everyone but Brody seems to know) has been in love with him for years.
Early in the story, Brody realizes Alison is aware that he struggles with reading and she is covering for him. At first he is a little angry to have this secret out, but soon he realizes she will keep it to herself and therefore he can now hire her to assist him.
Working together in close proximity makes Brody aware that Alison is his mate, but due to an ugly secret he carries, he does not feel deserving of her. One day, he reveals the secret, half-hoping to push her away, and half-fearing that he will succeed.
Meanwhile, the mayor of a nearby town is running for re-election and seems to view stoking fear of shifters in the human population as his ticket to success. When a man who knows Brody’s secret threatens to reveal everything to the mayor, Brody and Alison are faced with a challenge to the pack’s safety, and to their relationship.
The books in this series are all pretty short and at 157 pages, this one is the shortest. But the brevity worked to its advantage. Most of the annoying aspects of the world building I detailed in my post on the previous books are still there, but for the most part, they aren’t dwelled on. Instead the author focuses on the romance and on the suspense plot. The latter is also more compelling than the suspense plots in the other three books, because Brody is at the center of it, rather than a villain.
Werewolf biology still requires suspension of disbelief; werewolves never get sick and heal quickly from everything but silver. As well, only males can be werewolves, and so their female offspring are human (cue eye roll). Additionally, Brody’s thoughts described him as at war with his wolf and this conflict never got a satisfying resolution.
However, I really loved Alison’s quiet, steadfast love for him and the way she stepped up when she needed to. I also loved Brody’s determination to come home to her when they were separated late in the book. The resolution to the suspense conflict was fresh if a little bit rushed. This one gets a B-.
The fourth and final installment in this series did not disappoint. This reader has accepted the simplicity of the stories and were given enough to get emerged with enough information to accept the world created by this author. The last book is about the last brother, Brody and his mate, Alison.
The Alison has been introduced from the very beginning. She has been in love with Brody since she was 12 years old. The quite waitress is the daughter of one of the pack members and has lived her whole life as a member of the pack. She has seen and heard all what goes on in Shifter Falls. Practically everyone in town new her feelings towards their Alpha for years - Brody was oblivious to it.
Brody being the eldest son of the former Alpha, had lived through all the secrets, lies and illegal actions of his father. The irony of it all was that he himself had a few secrets of his own. These secrets has caused Brody to live in misery and self-loathing, until his mate Alison inadvertently revealed she was aware of his secret.
Another quick relationship build-up between the main characters. It helped that they've known each other for years, but it was difficult to understand how Brody was oblivious to Alison's feelings. Again, the romance between the two characters ran parallel to the sibling dynamics woven in all the stories. The bond between the brothers were not as visible, but just below the surface. The loyalty among the brothers are stronger and it was proven when Brody was away from the pack.
The reservations I had about book three were put to rest in book four. The story proceeded and concluded in a logical and satisfactory manner with all four Donovan brothers finding their happily ever afters. Brody, the alpha, is the spotlight of book four. As the alpha he is the one most responsible for derailing the hate campaign against shifters being waged by the politicians in the neighboring county. But Brody has secrets, more than his brothers know about. The only one who has noticed is Alison, who everyone but Brody knows has been in love with him for years. When Brody finally realizes that Alison notices more than he thought possible, he hires her as his assistant to help him navigate his duties as alpha. Once he does, their relationship escalates quickly.
As with all of the books in this series the characters stay true throughout. Their reactions and motivations just become more clear as more of their background is revealed. I liked the way that book four took the time to develop the relationship between Brody and Alison before diving into the action. It was a nice break from the nearly frenetic pace of book three. All in all the series ended on a satisfactory note.
Honestly I wrote this review a few days after I finished the book and had to go back to skim the thing to remember what it was about. So there's that for a recommendation. I did like the heroine, Alison the farther I got into the book the better. She started out as the innocent who pines from afar over the unattainable hero. Not my favorite trope but things quickly started happening and she developed into a confident, assertive character. Brody was a tough nut to crack. He feels all kinds of inadequacies over past actions as well as for a disability he actually has no control over. This was the first I've read of the series so no background stories softened the self loathing of an Alpha without any confidence. There was a building danger from the neighboring town that really felt like a legitimate threat but was basically solved by intimidating growls and the shifters telling them to "Be Nice"! This didn't seem very plausible and made the ending feel uneven. Reading this out of order was probably a mistake you shouldn't also make because the writing and ideas were coherent and interesting.
I feel like the other books were soooooo good and I was hanging off of every word, but this one just seemed to be written so fast. Like, slow down!! I would have loved to read about Alison and Brody falling in love and then more into Brody when he is in danger, but everything just happened.
So, a bit too fast paced for me.
Also, I just... I couldn't connect to the characters? I really do like Alison and in the previous books I liked Brody, but here I felt like he didn't have a personality much. There were time hops and combined with the fast-pace, I never felt like I got a chance to know Brody and actually get to like him for who he is.
I still enjoyed reading this and I was glad to see things come to a conclusion... I'll miss the couples and this world, but I just wish we had gotten more out of this last book.
I fell in love with Shifter falls In the first book Rebel Wolf. Each story there after did not fail or disappoint. Brady's story was just as good. I loved his relationship with Alison and how strong of a female she was. I also loved seeing the developing relationship between the brothers and how they truly become a family and United pack. I'm hoping the author will visit shifter falls again I'm going to miss the characters and this unique place.
Thoroughly enjoyed this series. Each brother had things to discover about themselves and each other in each book, with a good female counterpart for them. The plots were good and books well written. They flowed so well and kept my interest I didn't want to stop when I had to go back to work. :)
Thank you for the Shifter falls series, I truly enjoyed every read. Tough guys and strong but gentle women. Shifters are always a fantastic storyline. I loved the characters and each couple had their HEA!!
I read all for books in three days....stopping to do other things was annoying because I had to put the books down. I liked the characters, I liked the dialogue, I liked the action, I liked it all. I'm sad because I finished the series.
This whole series was great. They worked as stand alone books or in a series sequence as well. I love the fact that Brody's waa the last story to be told, it was great and I loved all the happy endings!!!!
I was unsure about this one. I had read so reviews that said it wasn't as good as the others but they were wrong!!! Don't let the shortness deter you such a sweet ending to the series ☺
I LOVE this whole series. Each book has something new and exiting and I love it so much. The epilogue was so nice and bittersweet to finish the series off with.
A good finish to a good series. I loved Brody in the previous books so was so happy to read his story. Such a page turner and I wish I hadn't read it so fast.
There are secrets spilled in this tale and a very bigoted view of shifters is portrayed. The brothers still have to take things into their own hands to fix the problem but now they do it together. I think this book is about strength of character and how far we are willing to go to protect our own.
This was the most touching, sensitive, moving and loving story yet. I've read all of the Shifter Falls series, loved them all, but this one is my favorite. Even though it was touch and go sometimes, I knew Alison would get her man( wolf). We need more in this series.....almost all of the mates are pregnant so there are more stories to be had. ;-)
This book wrapped everything up nicely and tied it with the perfect bow. Several things were revealed and dealt with in this final book. Brody was such a mystery as was the dtails of his childhood. Everything was cleared up. I have truly enjoyed learning about the brothers and their mates, who compliment them and balance them. I like that the brothers really band together in this book to protect what is theirs, including each other. I am glad I came across this series and read it.