Sandy M’s review of Fated (Cascadia Wolves Series, Book 6) by Lauren Dane
Contemporary Paranormal Erotic Romance eBook released by Samhain 19 Aug 08

This is another series, along with its author, that’s becoming a favorite of mine very quickly.  I’ve read and reviewed the last two books before this in the series, Wolf Unbound and Standoff, and thoroughly enjoyed them.  This book, however, is my favorite so far, but I still have the first two to read, and I have a feeling those will give Fated a fun for its money.

But I found that I really enjoyed the problems the hero and heroine in this story faced, it gave depth and emotion to it all.  Megan and Shane have never met, even though he is the anchor wolf for her sister and brother-in-law.  But the moment they do come face to face when she picks him at the airport in Seattle for a family wedding, their lives should be simple and follow a happily-ever-after course.  Not even close.

Megan is an enforcer for her pack. Shane has never been part of a pack.  Megan loves the feeling of pack, family.  Shane’s been raised to hate what he is, to live as human in a human world, even though his father is a wolf.  But Shane claims Megan anyway, not looking ahead to resulting consequences.  Living on opposite sides of the country is the least of their problems when they finally breathe and look at their differences.

They each want the other to leave their current lives and move to make a home where a life and career for the other have been ongoing for some time.  Megan is the first to give a possible future life a try.  But Las Vegas is not for her, especially because Shane lives as a lonesome wolf and his friends are superficial.  When Megan wants him to then visit her home and experience life her way, Shane makes excuses.

That leaves Megan only one choice.  And that choice leaves them both bereft and wanting.  Shane doesn’t understand why he should be the one to give up the niche he’s carved out for himself.  Even when other family members have a go at him, he digs his heels in.  After weeks apart, however, he does extend the olive branch to at least communicate with Megan, but he has no idea if it’s too late and he’s given up the best thing he’s ever had.

Ms. Dane has created a world where you can tell immediately she’s now so familiar with her characters that their emotions and wants and needs are second nature to her, they worm their way into you as you read so that you begin to really know those characters as well too.   I enjoy the feeling of family in this series.

Lex, Megan’s brother and the alpha’s right hand, offers to kill Shane for the hurt he’s caused, said seriously but only meant if Megan for some crazy reason said yes.  You feel the love during scenes like that.  You also feel Megan’s loss and loneliness when she realizes that Shane will probably not be part of her life; Shane’s agony when he can’t get beyond his mother’s disgust at what Megan is, even though he is wolf himself, and, therefore, can’t bring himself to go to his mate because of it all.

If you like to read werewolves and shifters, you need to read this series.  Besides that paranormal part of it, you get all those extra bonuses of family and love and emotion, you get great characters who stick to their beliefs and their families and those who have to make hard decisions to get what they deserve and need in that life.

Grade: A+

Summary:

Could there be any worse fate than a road trip from Seattle to L.A.—with one’s mother—to attend a wedding? Why yes, when one isn’t married yet, like Megan Warden. Toss in a grandmother and a carload of already married sisters and it’s a recipe for sneaking sips of “special” coffee while someone else drives.

Shane Rosario has better things to do than attend a wedding where his father’s relatives will be at him nonstop about getting married and having children. If it weren’t for seeing his anchor bond, Layla, he’d have taken a pass on the entire weekend. It would be easy, since he’s become adept at hiding who and what he is.

When the two weren’t even looking, Fate steps in and before they know it, their bond is sealed. Bonded pair, married in the eyes of their people. Two people tied together in every way. Trouble is, Shane’s not sure he wants all that comes with Megan. And Megan’s certain she’s not willing to live outside her pack, pretending to be human.

The distance between them is more than geographical. It’s a widening gulf rapidly filling with resentment…an emotional divide only acceptance could bridge. Can Shane can accept himself to cross it? Only if they let love take control.

Warning: The usual players – hot sexing, pushy Warden males and the women who keep them in line, some EMO (read: grab your hankies) and bad words.

Read an excerpt.

Other books in this series:

Sandy M’s reviews of Wolf Unbound (Cascadia Wolves, Book 4) & Standoff (Cascadia Wolves, Book 5) by Lauren Dane
Contemporary Paranormal Romance eBooks published by Samhain 1 Jan 08 & 4 Mar 08

I’m the typical reader who needs to read a series of books in order. However, reviewing books doesn’t give you that luxury very often. I’ve never read Lauren Dane before and suddenly I had the last two books in her Cascadia Wolves series in hand and once I started reading, I didn’t care one iota I hadn’t read the first three books before beginning these two.

I was immediately drawn into this world of wolves to whom family means everything, and they’re in the middle of the fight of their lives to save everything and everyone they hold dear. These books are action packed and full of love and romance, along with loads of alphaness and women who know how to handle all that testosterone.

Wolf Unbound (Cascadia Wolves, Book 4)
Paranormal erotic romance eBook released by Samhain 1 Jan 08

Tegan Warden is just beginning to live again after four years of grief and lonliness. She lost her mate in Afghanistan and has overloaded herself with her job as an enforcer for her pack. After a little pushing from her sisters, she decides to take that first step and heads to a local bar. As a wolf and an enforcer, Tegan is by nature and training always in control and ready to protect her pack when danger is at hand.

She likes to give up that control and is submissive in the bedroom, something she shared with her late mate. She never dreamed she would find another dominant male to give her what she needs, but meeting Ben Stoner is a step in the right direction. Imagine her shock after a night of sex he turns out to be her mate as well. Tegan is thrilled to have that intimate connection with someone again, someone she can love and someone who can hopefully love her. Ben, however, is not that happy about the situation.

As attracted as he is to Tegan, Ben isn’t ready to give his whole life over to someone he’s just met, even if she’s a dream of a submissive behind closed doors. He’s been betrayed before and isn’t looking for a mate for life, but it seems no matter what he does, his connection to Tegan won’t let go of him. He feels her every emotion even though he’s human, and being away from her is hell. But he has to get his head on straight before he can commit to such a relationship, especially to a woman whose brothers would rather pull him apart than give him the chance to hurt her.

Plus, there’s the fact that he wants to protect her from the danger facing her pack and she definitely loses her submissiveness when she’s on the job. Just because she can tear him to pieces with little effort makes no difference, Ben wants her safe and he’ll do what he has to, by God, to make sure that happens.

I’m normally not a fan of the D/s storylines, mostly because I just don’t understand the appeal, but that’s just me. Dane, however, doesn’t go overboard with it in this book. She makes it sexy and there’s more of a caring overtone than I’ve read by other authors. Even though you know Ben is in dominant mode by voice and action, he makes sure Tegan is comfortable, asks her if she’s okay, and this is all before he realizes how deep his feelings go for her.

And I enjoyed the contrast of Tegan being his equal outside of the bedroom and Ben having to learn to deal with that. Most of all I really liked the family interaction of these books, how they accept a new mate, how they take care of their differences, how they respect and protect their alpha. We get the added plus here with Ben’s family and the repercussions of him falling in love with a werewolf.

Sandy M’s Grade: A

Read Teddypig’s review.

     Wolf Unbound Summary:

     Werewolf Enforcer Tegan Warden has been alone since the death of her mate four years ago. Until she meets Ben Stoner at a local club and she feels something she thought died inside her. Things move very quickly and she finds herself mated to a human man who’s not altogether sure he wants a forever kind of love with a woman he’s just met.

     Ben realizes in short order Tegan is not only worth forever love, but a woman who’ll stand at his side without tolerating anything other than a full partnership.

     In the bedroom it’s another story, as Ben has finally found a sexual submissive with a spark, and Tegan a man worthy of her submission. Together they work toward building a permanent relationship even as the specter of danger from the Pellini Group grows in the world of wolves.

     All around them, the rising violence threatens the Packs and the only thing they know for certain is one another.

     Read an excerpt.

Standoff (Cascadia Wolves, Book 5)
Paranormal erotic romance eBook released by Samhain 4 Mar 08

Standoff basically picks up where Wolf Unbound left off. The packs are still after Warren Pellini, trying to end his reign of terror. Cade, the Cascadia alpha, has declared war on Pellini and his outlaw wolves, and when meeting with someone who has volunteered vital information about their enemy, Cade gets the best and worst shock of his life. Their informant is Cade’s mate. He knows it the second she walks into the room. She is also Pellini’s sister, Grace. Of course, this matters not to Cade. The pull of his mate is stronger than anything and this is something he’s waited so long for and something he’s wanted more and more recently. She’s strong and independent, his equal is nearly every way. She will make the perfect alpha alongside him. Now more than ever he has to rid the world of this rogue wolf and his desire to be a mega-alpha, because the most important thing, even more important than pack, is on the line and she must be kept safe.

Grace Pelilli is only trying to do the right thing when she returns to work for her brother. She knows he’s out of control and must be stopped. The only way to do that is pretend she’s on his side while working in his lab to outsmart him and get what information she can to the packs. In doing so she never thought her life would change so drasticially. But realizing she is Cade’s mate gives her a sense of peace along with the want and the need to be part of him. She never really had a family; her parents supported her brother so she wanted nothing to do with them. Becoming part of Cascadia’s family is at first difficult because not all of them trust her, but when she is finally accepted as alpha, she embraces the warmth, the love, the camraderie of family. Even better than that feeling is the emotion, the deep, binding emotion, she now shares with Cade.

I like the wolf characteristics that Dane keeps consistent with all of her characters even when they are in human form, including the submissive posture one takes when they’ve done wrong; the way they all have the need to touch, feel a touch, rubbing a cheek on a shoulder, a group hug when needed, and helping a wounded family member bring their wolf out to allow them to heal (this was done especially well in Wolf Unbound). Of course, all of the love scenes are sexy and hot. All the characters are paired perfectly, so anything from sex to teasing to raising their young is done exactly right.

This is one series I will never get tired of and I’m so looking forward to the next book, Fated, due out in August 2008.

Oh, Sybil!

Sandy M’s Grade: A

Read Teddypig’s review.

     Standoff Summary:

     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.

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.

Other books in this series.

Read more from Teddypig at The Naughty Bits.

Teddy Pig’s review of Cascadia Wolves: Wolf Unbound by Lauren Dane
Paranormal Erotica Romance published in ebook by Samhain 1 Jan 08

That’s it. I do not know how you guys find time during the holidays to actually sit down and focus on an eBook. You people are not human you must be alien super readers with abilities I obviously do not have. I suck! No, I do not just suck, I suck mighty BIG TIME! So anyway, sorry it took so long but I was trapped in a line at Best Buy during the half-off-all-DVDs-sale and they just sent in the police to break it up. It’s sad to see people beating each other bloody over box sets of The Best of Jerry Springer.

I am happy to report while I was waiting in line and ducking the occasional thrown punch I was finally able to crack open this little Christmas goody Angela, the eGoddess of Samhain and ruler of all things eClassy and eTasteful whom I eWorship, sent to me like an ePiphany from the heavens. So on with our reView.

	For those of you joining us late in the game here Wolf Unbound is actually the fourth book in the killer Cascadia Wolves series. The first was the glorious eBook Enforcer which introduced us to this world of werewolves and Nina, the sharp tongued human hacker girl, and Lex, her mate with the fur and the mega badass guns & ammo collection. I loved this world immediately and I liked the story and I liked Lauren’s writing but sad to say Nina’s jokes got just a tad bit repetitive which is not good for the main heroine character. It got a Grade: B for being a fun read but a little annoying
	Then along came Reluctant which I tried to like but felt the heroine Layla was just too TSTL for words especially with the complex world Lauren had built and the fact a full blooded werewolf vixen like Layla (you’ve got me on my knees, Layla, I’m begging, darlin’ please) should have worked out all those known werewolf-like issues supposedly suddenly thrust upon her pure blood werewolf ass. It was a short story, thank god, so I just ignored it, like much of Eric Clapton’s career, with a Grade: D.
	Then came Tri Mates and that was one JUICY book. It’s about Cade and Lex’s sister, Tracy, and her mates, Nick and Gabe, and the ever darkening world around them. Really good stuff in that one (Read it!) and a solid Grade: A.

So right off the bat in Wolf Unbound here we get to see our old friends the wild widow Tegan Warden (our heroine for this book and the Enforcer’s right hand chick in charge), Cade (the pack Alpha), Lex (his brother the Enforcer), and the ever sharp tongued Nina (the pain in their collective butts). Nina let fly some pretty good zingers this book, Go Lauren. I really enjoyed Nina in this book. In fact I really enjoyed Nina, Lex and Cade in this book because they honestly felt like a real family and that is one of Lauren’s strengths as a writer. It’s also the reason I liked the Chase Brothers books because Lauren has a great feel for working class families and the interactions between them.

In this story Lauren really leverages that approach and the werewolves as a whole do not come across as this bunch of overly privileged suck faces. They fight, they argue, they duck out when grandma comes around, and you get the feeling they have money problems amongst other private issues and have to work for a living. That so rocks! I think werewolves would have trouble in society and they would end up having to work together to get by. Which is why despite a couple of missteps (Tracy, Nick and Gabe getting all in the way for no reason at Tegan’s house) I really enjoyed having the old crew come back to provide that family feeling that permeates Tegan’s world. It’s Werewolves LLC!

The WTF parts… Um, there were a few moments right at the beginning where I thought Joey W. Hill was guest writing. I mean, what was the whole Ryan “the Gay Vampire” and his boy Elroy? There have been vampires in this world before? Did I miss the memo? The whole BDSM club deal. Is everyone hanging out at these places now? I mean, I am into BDSM and all but I do not hang out at BDSM clubs. The secret is most BDSM clubs suck ass because the only people who bother to go need help and boy the last time I went I kept repeating to myself under my breath what my momma always told me, “Do not flaunt what you do not got!”

The GREAT parts… The world building went into high gear for this book and boy did it keep things interesting. Warren Pellini and his Werewolf Mafia are back on crack and baby he ain’t taking no prisoners this time. Well he does, but that’s just giving way too much information. Let’s just say if you have been following the series you have got to read this book ASAP. Things are getting wild and woolly. Hell, I would have read these books to follow this back-story alone because it is so good. Lycanthorpy Viruseses and all.

My conscience is nagging me though. I do not think this book stands very well on its own and that is what it comes down to in my grade here. We get told far too much about what happened to the young, vivacious Tegan and not shown enough. Why not show us the day Lucas died? Why recount it to us constantly? That would have so fixed most of the problems at the beginning of the book and some of the repetition later on because there would have been no need for that extra stuff. I really kept wanting to see internally how Tegan grew and got to this point of a second chance at love and I personally felt the lack of that showcasing a main character seriously left this a book you should only read after you have read all the others and are invested in this world and these great characters.

On that note, I highly recommend, for a good time, reading all the Cascadia Wolves series which gets a solid Grade: B from me on the whole. This book by itself gets a…

Grade: C

Blurb:

     Blurb: 

     Overshadowed by the rising threat of the werewolf mafia, Ben and Tegan struggle to stand united.

     A Cascadia Wolves story

     Werewolf Enforcer Tegan Warden has been alone since the death of her mate four years ago. Until she meets Ben Stoner at a local club and she feels something she thought died inside her. Things move very quickly and she finds herself mated to a human man who’s not altogether sure he wants a forever kind of love with a woman he’s just met.

     Ben realizes in short order Tegan is not only worth forever love, but a woman who’ll stand at his side without tolerating anything other than a full partnership.

     In the bedroom it’s another story, as Ben has finally found a sexual submissive with a spark, and Tegan a man worthy of her submission. Together they work toward building a permanent relationship even as the specter of danger from the Pellini Group grows in the world of wolves.

     All around them, the rising violence threatens the Packs and the only thing they know for certain is one another.

     Warning: Naughty language that might get your mouth washed out with soap, domineering alpha males knocked down a few pegs by their women, smoking hot bedroom action including always consensual BDSM type action, werewolf mafia and the violence that loves them.

     Read an excerpt.