Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Kendall McKenna - Strength of the Pack

A Marine werewolf and his commander bring legends to life while surviving combat deployment in Afghanistan.
Lieutenant Lucas Young doesn't know much about shifters. When Sergeant Noah Hammond is assigned to Lucas' platoon, the Marine Corps' True Alpha werewolf challenges the Lieutenant's authority and his self-control. As Lucas learns to dominate and command Noah, he struggles against a strong attraction and deepening emotional bond. During their combat deployment to Afghanistan, Lucas and Noah begin mirroring legendary partnerships. Their bond and their power grow as they survive dangerous combat and ambushes. When one of them is wounded in battle, they both must embrace the strength of their bond before they lose each other forever.

Comment: Every month I randomly pick two m/m books to read from the TBR pile I have. However, sometimes the talk about a certain book calls to me and despite doing some research on a couple of new books here and there, I don't get that many, mostly because I already have a lot to go through. Still, this month I bought two new books, I mean one of them wasn't new but it was to me, as I haven't got it yet.
Anyway, this was the first m/m read of this month.

This is the story of Lucas and Noah, they're both in the military and in this "reality", werewolves not only are recognized, but they're accepted and are part of the military specially for their skills and resistance. Apparently, there isn't much prejudice as well.
Noah is a True Alpha, which means he leads several groups of werewolves while normal alphas only lead their packs. Lucas if the officer ranking above Noah and has to learn to deal with him without challenging him all the time, their relationship has to be balanced, also for the well being of their troops. However, something weird is happening when they're together and Lucas sees himself in a position he doesn't understand but with time their bond gets stronger and they start to balance each other quite well.

I loved this book!
It has all the elements in a story that I love and the fact there's shape shifters, there's romance and there's a pack structure is wonderful. 
Lucas and Noah feel very attracted but Lucas doesn't try very hard to deal with Noah because he fears he might do something he is supposed to, although his rank is above Noah's. I think this fact was well done by the author and when they started giving in to their attraction it was more believable and cute because of that.
During their "courtship", let's call it that, the only think I think wasn't that good was how things would be happening, strange things, and so many people seemed to understand them and Lucas didn't, although it was mostly about him. I mean, surely someone would explain things better and sooner....right? No, he was in the dark for quite a long time and I guess it could be explained by he needing time to process what was happening but still, it wasn't the best detail in the story...
Anyway, the story rocked. Noah and Lucas got more intimate with each time they were together or had to fight together and their bond was stronger and handier the more time passed. There are great scenes where we can see the perfection of their relationship and how good it was to see them do normal things but at the same time those same things were different, were more beautiful because of their bond. 
I also liked how the pack structure worked, how everyone was very respectful and not only because it was the armed forces, there was a certain sense of reverence to the type of relationship the guys had because it was unique and didn't happen very often.
Lucas and Noah both had interesting personalities...but the story is told by Lucas POV and I wished we could have read some scenes from Noah's just to have a more balanced idea of what was happening. Still, a very strong and solid story.
I really loved this world, this reality the author has created. I saw on her website that two more books are scheduled in this series...I can't wait for them to be about because the writing and the feel of the story were great. I also recommend it to everyone who likes gay shape shifter stories, it's amazing!

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