Speedread this one and skimmed a lot, because I wanted to know what happened next but was impatient with Nina's internal monologue and the slow pacing of the story. Honestly from book #1 to book #4 there's been zero growth in this woman.
Also, she's all "I would sacrifice myself for my mates" NOT because she's so selfless, but rather because she selfishly doesn't want to see any of them get hurt... I say 'selfishly' since the Oracle (whom they finally meet in this book) tells her that literally the fate of the world is in her hands, but she's willing to let it all go to $hit just because she doesn't want see her mates get injured or die. It's like the bigger picture doesn't matter to her, all she thinks about is her own fears and desires.
So yes, she turns out to be one of those "chosen one" kinda heroine which is ugh. Many heroines don't want to be the chosen one, but they step up to the plate when they realise what's at stake. Nina, not so much.
Also couldn't stand it that all the guys are like, "She's so beautiful, she's so perfect" when they hardly even know her and all they have had with her is a bunch of orgasms. They all think she's wonderful despite the fact that being her mates has caused them to be constantly on the run, rejected and cast out by their packs, attacked and perpetually bruised and bleeding, sometimes very close to the point of death. I just wanted to barf at the way they all thought she hung the moon.
Then along comes the fifth guy who actually doesn't want to be her mate, and that was refreshing. But he makes a 180° U-turn in about 2.5 seconds and ... urgh. I understand he couldn't have their deaths on his conscience, but once he jumps into the fray he's suddenly all in and offers to be a knight by her side! His actual words! More barf. Like she's a queen and he's hers to command.
I mean, I wouldn't mind if Nina did have the qualities of a queen like Shara in Their Vampire Queen (by Joely Sue Burkhart). Shara took on the responsibility that came with the position and owned it. She did what she needed to do and didn't whine about it. She made the hard decision and led the way. But Nina is constantly whining in her own mind, and not only that, she's always worrying and second-guessing herself and blaming herself for causing her men to be injured whilst fighting off the people who attack her.
Of course, Shara did have powers and her powers grew as she grew into her role of queen and added to her harem. In contrast, Nina remained curiously powerless, unable to even shift into her wolf. It's weird to be the chosen one, yet not granted any powers to achieve what she needed to achieve. Throughout this series, she and the guys have been constantly getting beat up and defeated by Jax's wolves, and more than once had to retreat or run away. That didn't change in this book.
So I would say that it was natural for Nina to be a bit uncertain or feel unprepared for her role once she found out what was happening. At the same time, I think I expected her to have more maturity and strength. I wanted her to grow into the kind of confidence which knows she has people by her side and that she can rely on them. But her thoughts were constantly in a loop and always self-centred--always about how she felt. She didn't even really think about how the guys felt. Like, she would put herself in danger or offer herself up as bait without ever thinking about how worried they would be or how they'd feel if she were to be badly injured or die.
Nina also doesn't have the qualities of a leader; she didn't take on the mantle of responsibility with courage, and even the way she spoke to the Oracle was somewhat petulant. I do remember that in book #3 it was her decision to search for the Oracle, but other than that she seems more reactive than anything else. She reacts to situations, often unthinkingly, and this TSTL behaviour gets her into trouble.
The other thing I didn't like in this story was that the gods and the fates seem to be manipulating Nina and using her. They were trying to influence her to do what they considered was the right thing. In the end, it boils down to doing what they want, so of course they would claim that's the right thing to do. It put a lot of pressure on Nina, yet they remained cryptic and wouldn't give her any clear instructions or even practical help. The best the Oracle could tell her was that her fifth mate was in a bar, so Nina and the guys go bar-hopping and visit a different bar every night in hopes of finding him!! I mean, how stupid is that? How many bars are there in a city? Literally dozens if not hundreds! Yet the Oracle keeps telling Nina to hurry and that she must find her fifth mate before it's too late. That was very annoying.
It was also never explained why exactly Nina needs five mates. Sure, they all represent something, but why did she need all these representations? What was the symbolism of that?
The bigger conflict or bigger stakes was an attempt to tie everything together but it fell flat for me. The use of Norse mythology was unusual (at least, I thought it was) but I felt it was poorly executed.
The guys remained devoid of personality. Honestly all they seemed good for was fighting Nina's enemies and sexing Nina up. Roman, who was such a strong character in book #1, faded into obscurity and became just another guy in all the other books. He didn't stand out; Blake, who's a history professor, never once spoke about his field, never exchanged any nerdy banter with Nina or anyone apart from that one joke Nina made about elevenses when they first met him in Book #2. He might as well have been a chemist or accountant for all it made any difference.
Can't remember what Roman, Micah or Tate does--I don't believe it's ever mentioned. All Nina says is that Tate has been good at saving money, so they were able to dip into his savings while on the move. Also, all of them seem to be able to take off from their jobs indefinitely without any repercussions, considering they all went on the run with Nina from the first moment each of them met her and bonded with her. Even the prof appears to have been able to drop his classes and students with nary a thought. I'm lecturer and this kinda bugged me, because I can't imagine disappearing into the ether and not having students complain to my boss about classes being cancelled for weeks.
I have already skimmed the last book and know how it ends. Actually it's no surprise, since Nina is the heroine and heroines always prevail. So I won't review the last as I really didn't read most of it. My take on this series is that if you like reading about your FMC and her harem constantly getting beaten up, kidnapped, shot at, stabbed or slashed, and defeated, this is the series for you. It was honestly quite depressing, and the FMC's thoughts were annoyingly repetitive. The sex was nothing special--I can tell you that Nina always orgasms twice during every encounter, without fail. I don't know if I'd read another book by this author.