Sandy M’s review of A.L.F.A. Mates (A.L.F.A. Mates, Books 1 & 2) by Milly Taiden
Paranormal Romance published by Berkley 3 Oct 17
I’m still suffering from finding a good book lately. One I can fully and completely connect with the characters. One that will keep me glued to the pages. One I can finish. So I hoped a shifter story by a new-to-me author would hit the right spot…
Unfortunately, I got to only Chapter 17 of the first story in this book and I couldn’t go any further – all because of the heroine. Melinda is a scientist working on a new virus strain. She’s introduced to an oversight person, someone she doesn’t want around getting in her way, telling her what to do. In actuality, Parish Hamel is a shifter who is there to figure out why break-ins and other things begin to happen in Melinda’s lab. You know right away Hamel is going to be found out – he’s not a doctor in any shape or form, so his medical ignorance shows right away. Melinda begins to have doubts, but they’re small enough not to raise red flags yet. Hamel knows Melinda is his mate, but he can’t do a thing about that while he’s working to keep her safe. At least he does shift a couple of times in these first seventeen chapters – not enough for me but more than other books that I’ve read lately in the same amount of time.
What really made me give up is the fact that Melinda is a bit of a klutz. The first time we see this is more of a trick to get her in the same vicinity as Hamel in his jaguar form. Later after her lab is broken into and Hamel’s animal comes to the fore, making demands she stay put, don’t do this, don’t do that, all that an alpha male would go crazy about to keep his mate safe, Melinda isn’t having any of that – no man will be telling her what she can and can’t do when and where. Even when there’s danger all around and she’s in the middle of it. “I can take care of myself!” Please. She jumps when her alarm on her phone goes off. When she said that in her TSTL attitude, I’d had it. That was it for me.
Including not even trying the second story in the book. Maybe that’s not fair, but I wasn’t in the mood to go through anything close to the same thing again. Maybe another of Ms. Taiden’s series might work for me. This one just doesn’t cut it for my romance mind and heart.
Grade: DNF
Summary:
ELEMENTAL MATING
Brilliant scientist Melinda Caster has discovered a new strain of the Zika virus that stimulates synaptic growth in embryos, causing neuron development beyond normal human levels. When her lab is broken into, Melinda realizes that someone has been keeping tabs on her research and wants it for themselves. A.L.F.A. sends in jaguar-shifter Agent Parish Hamel to help Melinda discover who is after the virus and why. But the attraction between Parish and Melinda may be the real discovery.MATING NEEDS
Amerella Capone is the great-grandniece of the infamous Al Capone, and she won’t let anyone in the Las Vegas Mafia forget it. When Amerella unintentionally stumbles upon bad family business that she wants no part of, she becomes a star witness for a high-profile government case. A.L.F.A. is called in to keep Amerella safe, but cougar-shifter Agent François Dubois has history with his charge, and the secrets between them might do more damage than any gun pointed at his head.
No excerpt available.
Other books in this series:
