Alanea Alder - My Commander

In book one you meet our delicious Alpha Unit leader Aiden McKenzie. When the topic of grandchildren comes up during a weekly sewing circle the matriarchs of the founding families seek out the witch Elder to scry to see if their sons have mates. They are shocked to discover that many of their son’s mates are out in the world and are human!
Fearing that their future human daughter in laws will end up dead before being claimed and providing them with grandchildren to spoil, they convince their own mates that something must be done. After gathering all of the warriors together in a fake award ceremony the witch Elder casts a spell to pull the men’s mates to them, whether they want it or not.
Aiden is adamant that he doesn’t need a mate and that they would only get in the way, little does he realize Fate is sending him his mate first! He meets his destined mate Meryn Evans and things go downhill from there. In the first twenty four hours she kicks, screams and knocks her bear shifting mate unconscious. They eventually discover that life before finding each other may have been good, but life afterwards is perfect, even if it involves super soaker battles and accidentally discharging hand grenades.

Comment: I had this book to read for a sometime, it was recommended to me at a message board I participate in. Those who have read it praised it and the ones who didn't enjoy it as much liked some elements. Finally, I had the opportunity to read it but I must say it wasn't up to my taste.

In this story we meet heroine Meryn Evans, who has recently moved to a new place and one day she decides to go for a walk and sees a beautiful garden, so she climbs a wall and starts roaming, until a bunch of guys approach her and say that she is in private propriety. Meryn is properly chastised and starts to go back but then, out of nowhere, one of the guys stars talking about them being mates!

Aiden is the commander of his unit and he knows Elders have done a spell to make the mates of every member of the several teams come to them. He wasn't prepared to be the first to welcome his mate and she doesn't even seem eager... but as she starts to embrace her new world and status, they also get to know each other and start having feelings. But someone doesn't seem interested in Meryn being there.. is there any hope for them and for the upcoming mates who might show up?

I bet those of you who have just read the above summary are wondering how can Meryn not know she is meeting her mate and how Aiden couldn't either. Well, simple, Meryn just happens to stumble on that specific property because of a weird spell that made her feel she had to move to that city! But there's more, the place she stumbles into is part of a magical dimension, kind of, which most humans would not guess is there, but all the special beings in said dimension can use to come and go. This idea isn't new in paranormal worlds, but it felt very convenient, indeed.

I read this as if it was a comedy - the vibe and style of the storytelling certainly adhere to it - but even then, I must say I was not impressed because this type of stories feel too superficial and under done and not that appealing to my taste. I like it when things are better and more structured, have depth and even if it's not something angsty nor full of drama like here, I still like to think the characters have more motivations besides the basics and more to them besides what is necessary for the plot in hand.

The world created by the author is quite fascinating. There are areas in the US which are divided into four factions, ruled by shifters, by vampires, by the fae and by witches. These "dimensions" are hidden from human eyes but everyone lives in the same universe, if this makes sense. So Meryn, affected by the spell, can stumble on this dimension but others probably wouldn't. I think this was interesting and the different types of paranormal beings too, but perhaps it was just this book, and this will be further developed, but this base remained simply that, basic.

The plot isn't complicated, basically Meryn enters a new world, someone doesn't like her and sometimes there are scenes where some defensive actions have to be done, but most of the story is about her adaptation, her budding relationship with Aiden and all the secondary characters that live in that region. There really isn't much about the book, to be honest, and while some scenes were cute and even funny, most of the time I was rolling my eyes at the incredibly juvenile style of writing. I have not read anything else by the author but her style here just does not appeal at all.

The whole story is told as if all the weird things should be simply accepted. The characters act as if everything is normal, but Meryn is just now discovering about other types of beings besides humans and she is part of this new world now! None of her reactions are suitable to this which means the idea was for things to go smoothly according to information that comes from nowhere, it makes no sense. I see there's a prequel but something tells me that not even then any of this is really fully explained, not even the supposed spell done by the Elders to make the mates to reach those they have to find.

Meryn is the main character but I wasn't very fond of her personality, nothing she does would be the likable behavior of someone in her new position. It's quite good that she takes in things and adapts but I wasn't convinced of her reactions... as for everyone else, I didn't feel anyone was truly well developed, nor in character, nor in personality... I get it that the aim here isn't to have a dramatic story where every single detail matters that much, but it was still a little disappointing to see that not much was really developed or special.

I don't think I will read more books in the series... I kind of liked the lightness of the story, which made it easier to read and turn the pages but not enough to feel like going through the less than good elements again.

Grade: 4/10