Evan, the oddest wolf shifter born in over a thousand years, lived through hell and came out the other side. Mostly intact, surprising most of the people around him. With an invitation to spend time with his father’s birth pack, he decides to take a chance on living like the rest of the wolves in the world. Eager to celebrate his birthday during a few days' layover on the way to his new home, he never expected to meet his fated mate.
Or for what would happen during that meeting.
Matthew is heir to the largest pack in North America. His future is on the path he’s always seen for himself. On a jaunt to the big city with his girlfriend to celebrate his 21st birthday, his life is irrevocably upended when he runs across his fated mate. He makes a decision that appeases his arrogance, his pride, and his prejudice.
But it was a decision his wolf, his heart, and his soul object to.
Dillion is one of a pair of twins living in small town America. The quiet and sweet one of the pair; he always believed he’d wait for his fated mate. Until the newcomer in town steals his heart away before he even knew it was happening. When he finally meets his fated mate, it turns the lives of everyone around him upside down and leaves the question hanging:
Which would prevail; fate or love? And would there be any winners when three hearts are at stake?
**Tiny Kingdom is a 106+k word MMM stand-alone, hurt/comfort, fated mates, GFY, A/B/O wolf shifter romance novel. It dabbles in the dark, drowns in angsty and sarcastic, and resolves in a HEA. This is a book intended for audiences 18+ due to explicit sexual depictions. Please see the trigger warnings, which can be viewed by downloading a sample or by using the Look Inside feature.**
Ryn currently lives in the American Southwest as a happy slave to the feline overlord who rules over hearth and home. Ryn is Gender Chotic and uses he/they/she pronouns. May you be much blessed in figuring out which ones at which times, because he doesn't even know half the time. She's been blessed with two spawn and one WonderHusband, who also live in servitude to the feline power. They're happy to spill words into the aether, since it costs less than therapy.
So... this started out really good, and then it turned into a bit of a mess.
The first half was really intriguing, because it didn’t follow the classical “meet your mate and fall in love” strategy Fated Mates stories often have. But then the whole storytelling got more and more rushed, important plot points were only mentioned but not really worked out how I would have liked it, and it felt like everything was suddenly all over the place.
One more thing that really annoyed me was the constant skipping between present and past tense. It’s perfectly fine to create some tension by changing the tense temporarily in a scene that profits from it, but it doesn’t here. It’s just weird and doesn’t help to keep you in the story.
Another thing I didn’t like was that Evan, who started out a traumatized child who slowly found himself while still dealing with the repercussions of his abuse, turned into a bit of a sassy bitch sometimes. That started feeling like the author had changed their mind about what the protagonist was supposed to be. It didn’t really fit with the picture of Evan created in my mind, which gave it a bit of a schizophrenic feel.
The story started out good, though. I liked how Evan was small, both as a human and a wolf, but never really weak. He was always a survivor and didn’t wallow in self-pity all the time, which allowed the story to go forward.
I think if maybe one tense could be used throughout the book and the second half of it got a bit ironed out, I would have really enjoyed all of it. The first half is definitely worth four stars. The second half unfortunately not.
This was a lot, and not in a good way. It was heavy, without nearly enough good or light moments to balance it out. Trigger warnings for homophic violence, bullying, rape, and family abuse.
The mates were almost always f-ing up, and I didn't like them. One of them was a tool and never really redeemed himself with any likability. He also had a LOT of sex with high schoolers for a 21 year old. The other mate was just a flat character that I was never invested in.
Don't even get me started on the way the stutter was written or how the seizures were portrayed. Even if the MC being a paranormal impacted how those conditions manifested in him, I think that needed to be explained. I've spent full days helping someone deal with the aftermath of seizures and the need to time them and so on, so the way this character was shown as having a seizure and then casually moving on like he just woke up from a nap really rubbed me the wrong way.
I was not at all expecting this book's high school setting, and I didn't really buy into the idea that the MC had to attend a full year of American high school before he could attend college there.
I also did not know that chimerism is a real genetic condition, so I was completely thrown off when the MC casually told the human character that he was a chimera. I thought he was outing paranormal secrets about the monster from Greek mythology.
And then the ending . . . I really hate when authors make their presence known while I'm reading. Like, I want to get lost in the story; I don't want to focus on the person telling the story. While I read the ending, I felt like I could hear the author yelling "I'M TRYING TO TRICK YOU", which of course made the trick obvious. There was also no reason for the trick. It didn't do anything for the plot, so it felt like a waste of time.
I borrowed this off of KU solely because the cover was hilarious, and this book was far more entertaining than I could have expected. The plot was ambitious and creative - I enjoyed the . I’m going to split this into Before Colorado and After Colorado, because there was such a tonal shift around that point. The split was around halfway through the book.
Before Colorado:
This book had a decently strong start. It was angsty, dark, and interesting to slowly learn the dynamics of this shifter world. The characters weren’t all terribly distinct, but I could tell them apart. I liked seeing Matt as bro-creature, being a dumbass and then immediately realizing he fucked up. I liked how the wolves were independent minds for people.
Evan was a compelling character with his stack of issues, both mental and physical. I was interested to see how he’d develop some level of self-esteem. I liked how protective Ashley (his wolf) was of him, and really how protective they were of each other.
After (in) Colorado:
Once Evan got to Colorado, the story changed dramatically. It went crazy high school teenage drama like a wild tv show or movie. It was a surprise to get that shift, but…honestly, extremely entertaining, even if it lost its earlier more serious feel.
Evan, despite being 19, has to take some high school classes for college requirements. Matt is 21. I think Dillon is 18, and legitimately in high school. This is where the feel of a YA or teenage drama show kicks in, with dramatic and not understanding evil teachers, bullying, etc.
I’ll be honest, usually I rail against the Evil Ex Girlfriend, but it was perfect for this setting. Dramatic, ridiculous, a seriously slap down by Matt via public love declaration…hilarious. Art. I would have been disappointed had it happened any other way.
This part is where the characters lost all distinction to me. Matt and Evan had some sort of personality transplants. Even Serious Alpha Gabe went high school drama on me, which was initially startling but then let me know where this was headed, which was crazy-town. But so, so entertaining.
I loved that there was an 80% breakup at 80%. Perfection. Hilariously dumb. Evan’s reaction was totally reasonable, but Dillon and Matt were absolute dumbasses, but I guess that fits with their immaturity levels and being so young.
The plot ended up feeing pretty rushed for the last quarter, major plot points weren’t explored much and only briefly addressed. It could have used a bit more balance with the beginning and this portion of the book to maintain flow.
Writing-wise:
This had different POVs, and I think it would have helped to have it stated (like a chapter subhead) whose POV we were in. There were also some POV shifts mid-chapter, at one point we get snippets from a secondary character that I think could have been alluded to via a MC POV rather than the jump.
This had some tense shifting between past and present. Not a whole lot, but it’s better to stick with one. And to stick with past tense. While the majority of the book was first person, there was a chapter that went third person omniscient which was odd to say the least.
It was hard at times to follow the character relationships, I kept forgetting who was friends with who and who related to who. I think there were too many characters. I’m guessing it was meant to be kept secret A little odd and I definitely got lost on that point for a while. It was a little contrived in the end, since Evan looks so unique and Matt never mentions that.
There was a lot of crying.
Overall:
I wasn’t surprised to find out this was a chapter serial (how do you get banned from Wattpad? I’m dying to know), it explains the tonal shift midway through. For a first time author (I’m assuming), this was pretty solid, especially the beginning. Some good potential.
A great book! Even with my qualms with the book I highly recommend it.
Evan is a total bad ass.
There is a significant amount of bullying heavy enough that it deserves a trigger warning.
I almost DNF at about 20%. The way the author separated and writing style of Ash/Evan was giving me difficulties.
In my mind I was giving this book 5 stars up until the return to Scotland which dropped it to a 4 and after writing my review I’ve gotta drop it to 3 stars.
This would of been better as a duet starting with the return to Scotland. The battle was glossed over and then the author jumped to 10 years in the future in the next chapter without addressing the massive elephant in the room that the author created just prior to the events in Scotland (this dropped a star in itself).
Then the author has a “bonus” chapter that my mind had to revert to where the placement of said chapter was.
The bonus chapter was too long and too crammed together. It was a nice BDSM scene but it would of been great to of spread out the details a bit and expanded upon Evan’s fetish of lace and silk (I get it would of changed the dynamic of the book unless done with some serious finesse)
Also bummed that mpreg (insinuated-not even mentioned in the book) and kids were glossed over as well
Tiny Kingdom is blew me away. The story about a boy named Evan who was severely abused by his own mother and brother but yet survived. And not just simply survived and lived but persevered to live strong and to find happiness.
This story just tugged at my heartstrings and made me cry from the beginning to the end - either with sadness or happiness. I loved how gritty and raw and complex it was.
This author is amazing and refreshing and heroic in that they didn't follow the rules about the character being only 18, the legal age in the US, when awful things happen to them (especially sexually). I find it laughable when authors write stories and have their characters wait until their 18. Although it's fiction, it's just still unrealistic and becomes laughable, and just plain ridiculous.
Tiny Kingdom, although it's urban fantasy, is more realistic to me than stories written in contemporary times. I applaud this author and I look forward to more grit and realism fiction from this fantasy/ PNR author.
The major problem with the book was it didn't stick the landing. Evan went through so much abuse throughout the story and honestly though it ended in a HEA, I didn't totally buy into it. One reason was the fact the Matt was so unlikeable. I'm not sure I would have forgiven him for the things he said when he and Evan first met and then he pretty much doubled down on the stupid after they were mated. I think I would have liked the story better if Evan would have mated with Dillan only.
Then there was the time skip at the end. I hate when a story does that. We have the big climax and then a 10-year time skip. I wanted to read about the events that happened immediately after and not just get a brief overview.
All in all, I was invested in the story throughout. I wanted to see Evan get his HEA after everything he went through, and it was good to have him gain confidence as the story progressed. I just wished I liked the ending more.
I'm not a huge fan of the "I'm not like other girls/boys"-type characters. I just find them so annoying. Especially if they wear that characterization like a badge instead of something they should grow out of as the story progresses. Most of the main characters in this book gave off that vibe (except maybe Dillon).
This book was not for me. But you may enjoy it if you like shifter mmm romance. And enjoy reading that particular character trope. I did like that each shifter has a sort of inner wolf that is a wholly separate persona from the shifter and has its own thoughts, feelings, motivations, etc. Maybe this is a concept that's been done before but I personally haven't encountered it until this book and thought it was a cool spin on the shifter genre.
Really really enjoyed this one! Ryn is a new to me author but I will absolutely be getting my hands on anything else by them. Just the right amount of hurt/comfort and second chances to someone who I believe for once actually deserves them. Matt is an ass for sure but he's a product of his raising, readily admits when he's fucked up and does his best to change. Dillon is the sweetest thing EVER! And Evan, so freaking strong when he could have given up so many times. I'll absolutely be adding this one to my re-read list.
I could have kept reading this one for days and days!! I was so heartbroken throughout a good portion of the book and wanted to hear more about the happiness at the end. It was such an amazing read, and I would love to read more by this author ❤
Twisted itself into pretzels trying to keep age of consent in mind for a high school drama: a 19 year old homeschooled rich kid needs high school?
Sweet kitchen sink slash romance: a/b/o, shifter, m/m/m, hurt/comfort: lot to take in. Not bad, but covered a roller coaster in one novel that other authors would have spread among three to five novels.
OMIGOSH, SO MUCH WAS GOING ON. I did not expect the twist where it turned out he has two mates! THE 2ND WOLF PART WAS SO UNEXPECTED AS WELL! The only ones I didn't like were the parts where I think they were moving a little too fast, and some parts (like Luke's death) could've been an impactful scene for Matthew. But alas, they totally glossed over it. Overall, it's a really good book, one that I might even read again if I feel like it. The ending was great as well, in my opinion.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
It was definitely a wild highly emotional ride. If you're one for a neat twist on shifters, enjoy high angst, soap opera drama, and wtf did I just read moments.. then this is the book for you.
I loved it, I hated it, parts pissed me off but it was very entertaining and I would recommend. I don't want to give anything away so I'm not giving details but hating and loving it sums it up for me
This book starts depressing and ends super depressing so bad that I just skimmed through it so I would not be pulled in to the depression I read books for fun and entertainment this book had no good parts I would give negative stars if I could
Wow! A real emotional rollercoaster. I stayed up way too late a few nights because I couldn't put it down. I admit sort of skipping over some of the really graphic 'love' scenes after the first couple. Just not my particular taste. But, in context they did drive home the complexity and intensity of the relationships involved.