Teddypig’s review of Cascadia Wolves: Standoff by Lauren Dane
Paranormal romance ebook released by Samhain on 4 Mar 08
[Ed Note: WARNING: HERE BES Spoilers, A.K.A. the End of the Book…. Proceed With Caution…. Also, we moved this post to show up once the book was released.]
First off, let’s get one thing straight here. If you have read the most excellent Cascadia Wolves eBook series, you are gonna buy this book. No question! You will get this book and read it because Enforcer and Tri Mates was Werewolf Romance crack.But, then I am left trying to explain my allergic reaction to reading this last entry in the series. That is where I ran into the proverbial brick wall. I love Lauren Dane. I love her families and I love her complex worlds and I like her not making her characters too omnipotent and rich and spoiled, because when she writes normal everyday characters with warm families, and difficult but reasonable limitations and life experiences, she so rocks.
So why did I not like this book?
After sitting on this review for a while I can only summarize it felt to me like Lauren undermined her own strengths here for the sake of writing a straight forward romantic story with simple actions and a pat ending, that’s why! This final book called for acknowledgment of all she had created in the course of the series and it just seemed to fail in that regard.
Grace Pellini, the most evil villain Warren Pellini’s sister, turns out to be Cade Warden’s fated mate. This is a damn good setup for the big finale here – in theory. I still like the drama of my own idea better – Lex Warden dies and Cade is left to take care of and mate with Nina – but I am a dark dark horrid Pig that thinks younger brothers make great targets.
Anyway, Lauren’s idea here does not bother me so much. In fact, putting Cade on his own away from Cascadia to handle the Warren Pellini problem and then introducing his mate is an excellent choice with a lot of potential that gets him off balance and makes things more intense.
BUT!
What actually happens… Cade meets Grace. Cade jumps Grace. Cade drags Grace back to Cascadia. HUH!?!?!?! With Nina preggers and stuck in bed? WTF!?
Cade tells Lex and Nina the good news on the phone and they turn into these strange alien harpies I did not know. They started acting totally out of character making absolutely no sense with their reactions. Cade is their Alpha right? They act like nasty spoiled children. Very un-family like and WTF?!
So here we go down a path I was totally uncomfortable with…
Why put pregnant Nina in danger by dragging Grace back to his Cascadia house, thus making everyone there great big targets?
Why was Lex, a life long werewolf and Cade’s brother, so down on Cade for mating with Grace? When he knows from his own experience MALE WEREWOLVES HAVE NO CHOICE IN THE MATTER!?
Why was the threat of the Pellini organization kept so remote to our heroes? Half the time I was reading this book, I felt they were all sitting around watching CNN and talking about the latest Pellini attack, like we all do about the Iraq War. In other words, they had no personal involvement until the end, when Warren Pellini’s minions finally show up to threaten Grace at the airport.
Why was Warren Pellini, who Lauren expertly made into a very evil and unstoppable corruptive force, so easy to take out in a one on one duel the end? I mean Lauren pointed out several times that Warren was not a “real” alpha. She also shows how he runs the group even here in this book:
Warren’s spies were everywhere, she trusted absolutely no one, not even her own parents.
To me this type of enemy is complex and very dangerous because you could take out Warren but his organization makes the next in line just as evil and just as dangerous. In other words, not only would every rogue werewolf be in the pack hierarchy, but also “only there for their own benefit,” making it not only an unstable organization, but also unstoppable and highly adaptable evil-wise.
So at the end Warren Pellini poisons the Mega Alpha which forces Cade to go one on one with Warren. Why did it take so long for this to happen if this was all that had to be done? The aftermath being Cade becomes this Supreme-ruling-Alpha and everyone plays nice THE END. ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Don’t get me wrong. I hope Lauren takes all her strengths she has shown in the Cascadia series, lists them out, perfects each one, and then mixes them with the stuff I loved in the Chase series. I would so be drooling over reading about blue collar werewolves in small towns trying to just make a living and find true love. I know I am sorta suggesting perfecting a formula out of all this. But you know what? A good formula can be so worth the effort especially if it makes for a juicy series of books.
Grade: D
Blurb:
Cade Warden has put his Pack first for most of his life and now Warren Pellini and his thugs threaten everything he holds dear. Into that life of intense focus and increasing loneliness walks the woman he’s been waiting for.
Grace Pellini isn’t just Cade’s mate, she’s the sister of his greatest enemy and she’s been putting herself in grave danger to gather information to aid the Nationally Allied Packs. Cade is everything she could have hoped for in a man even if he is overprotective and pushy at times.
Against the backdrop of their increasing passion and deepening bond, they race against time to find a key to stop Pellini’s biological weapon. And then the stakes rise again when Pellini calls an ancient Challenge. It’s up to Grace to stand by and let her mate risk everything for his people. And his life is in her hands.
Read an excerpt.
Read more from Teddypig at The Naughty Bits.
Aww, dude, I had a feeling you’d hate this one! But thanks for the review and the addition of the spoiler note!
*covering eyes* not reading the spoilers
Well, I apologize for spoiling but I did have big issues with the end of Warren Pellini.
Nina has been a bitch in the past so I could sorta accept her not understanding but Lex…
Lex? The guy who we met in Enforcer?
You know that guy who should so understand what his brother Cade is going through? And yet who should have been freaking out about Nina and the kid getting hurt by Cade’s actions.
*sigh*
SPOILERS?! Bad, bad Pig.
Hey Lauren! You bring the sauce, I’ll grease the spit and start the fire pit. We gonna have us some BBQ’d oinker!!
Bev, why do you think I held onto this review for so long!
I figured to at least give people a chance to grab it.
Bacon Vodka
Makes up one pint
* Fry up three strips of bacon
* Add cooked bacon to a clean pint sized mason jar. Trim the ends of the bacon if they are too tall to fit in the jar. Or you could go hog wild and just pile in a bunch of fried up bacon scraps.
* Optional: add crushed black peppercorns.
* Fill the jar up with vodka. Cap and place in a dark cupboard for at least three weeks.(No need to refrigerate)
* At the end of the three week resting period, place the bacon vodka in the freezer to solidify the fats. Strain out the fats through a coffee filter to yield a clear filtered pale yellow bacon vodka.
* Decant into decorative bottles and enjoy.
WAITWAITWAIT!!!!
Do you drink that shit or marinade pork in it?!
Cuz if that’s for drinkin’… well, I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.
Yes but it’s bacon!
Why spoil bacon with vodka or spoil vodka with bacon? No, no. Iced vodka with BLTs on the side.
And darlin, Lex hates the Pellinis. He didn’t shoot Grace in the head but he’s going to be suspicious. But that lasted what, two days? And where else would Grace be but at the right hand of her mate? She’s Alpha, she’d be there. I don’t want to say anything else for spoilage, LOL, but email me if you want to talk about it!
I changed my mind— I’m not gonna grease the spit.
Yummmm… Roast pork…
It’s nothing personal–I’m allergic to spoilers in books, movies, tv series… just can’t stand them. I get hives 😉
Lauren,
I know the “why” they were upset but the reaction seemed a bit overboard when they should have trusted Cade. On the flip side of all that Cade hauling Grace back made no sense because Lex is the next in line and so is Nina’s child… So why would he be putting those particular people in bigger danger? All in all the situation just seemed off to me.
OH SHIT!
Lauren, I am an asshole.
I just realized the date is March 4th not Feb 4th.
I suck. I was gonna hold this for a month and left it in my stack and… I AM AN IDIOT!
Oh shoot me someone.
I might just have to read on of this series – that’s my last name and I rarely come across. Not related to me that I know of, lol.
This place is giving me angina. I mean, try to comment, try to click. Plus, haven’t I BEEN here before? Is it the coffee? Must be the coffee….maybe the bacon vodka?
Oh. Book. Right. So I’d like to read the first too. You had me at:
LOL, you’re not an asshole (cripes, I just inhaled green curry and I’m coughing).
And Cade brought her back because she’s the Alpha, period. He could protect her there. And Lex wanted Nina to go, urged her to but she wouldn’t. It’s a war and she’s his right hand. To me, there’d never be any other choice to a man like Cade.
Did someone say Pork Roast and I missed it? Damn it.
🙂
I don’t know Lauren I think Cade, at least at that point of time, would sacrifice his safety and Grace’s for the good of the pack, keeping Nina and her baby and Lex from becoming targets along with him.