Cooper West - Parker's Sanctuary

Stalked by danger, will Parker ever find a place to call home?
Greg Lademar is an ordinary and average Army veteran who has settled down with his job as an accountant and his lingering PTSD. He lives a quiet life as a single man, alone on the former blueberry farm he bought from his parents after they retired to Orlando. When a friend who works with animal control asks him to foster Parker, a severely injured dog who has just been rescued from an abusive home, the last thing Greg expects is to be dragged into the mysterious world of the Guardsmen — the bonded pairs of humans and their weredogs, known as Protectors, who are literally the stuff of myths and legends.
Greg’s life is turned upside down by unexpected events involving Parker and the strange Guardsmen pair Marcus and Alex Stephanek, but far more dangerous to him is the man who used to own Parker and holds a grudge for having “his” dog taken from him. A game of cat and mouse ensues, with more on the line than even Greg ever thought possible: his life, and the life of Parker, who has become more important to him than Greg ever imagined a rescue dog could be.
Welcome to the world of Guardsmen, bonded pairs of weredogs and their partners who live on the edges of society -- worshipped and feared in turn, sheltered as much as they are shunned, Guardsmen mates live, love, and die together.

Comment: In January, I've read a book by this author and of this series, which I liked enough but it wasn't as spectacular as I would have liked. I saw that there was another book, whose blurb appealed to me and now I've read it and can say it was, indeed, much better to my personal taste.

When this story begins, Greg Lademar is about to foster a dog recently rescued from an abusive situation. Greg is a war veteran, came home with all the usual PTSD scars but hopes that fostering again, as his parents used to do while he was growing up, will help him bring back good memories. However, the rescued dog seems quite smart and weird at first and at some point it all comes to light that he is actually a Protector. Parker has been in his dog shape for two years because he as kidnapped by someone who wrongly believed he could be his Handler. How all this came to be is what everyone needs to know but now it seems Parker has created a bond with Greg and vice versa. When the institute decides to step in to help Parker, can he truly do well if he is away from Greg? What about Parker's stalker, who now seems to be targeting Greg?

I actually liked this book more than the first. I liked this plot more but more importantly, I liked the development of the relationship between Greg and Parker way more than the one we had in the first book. Somehow, the dynamics here felt better done, even though their story was done differently from the first book's couple.

The book is divided into four sections, all pertaining to a specific stage in the path of Greg and Parker's developing relationship. At first Parker is only interacting with Greg in his dog shape and we get only any notion of what he must be feeling through Greg's eyes. This never changes, as the whole book is told from Greg's POV, but the author did a good job making is seem things happen slowly and in a believable way for us to assume Greg could not guess Parker is a Protector. I think this helped us to see how they could be more than good friends somehow while learning a lot about Greg by seeing him go through his days.

At some point, Parker feels the need to change back and in come the experts from the Institute which regulates Protectors and Handlers, including the couple from the previous book, and this allows things to move forward while secondary issues such as the threats and the placement of characters in their roles continues. I liked it that things were dealt with ease and understanding and, for instance, that the feelings between Greg and Parker were believable, considering how they initially met and interacted.

All this situation was new to both guys and a good part of the story is spent on them learning things, dealing with them and what they meant and among all this, we could see the little things, the small emotional scenes or situations which would be more important than flashy demonstrations and I feel glad the author took the time to set up things slowly and in a slightly romantic fashion too. Greg isn't a very demonstrative guy but I feel his feelings were true and strong, just by having him say/do little things.

Parker is a little harder to read, since we don't have his thoughts unless it's in dialogue, but he comes across as being a quiet and dependable guy who was caught in this unthinkable situation. I think the author did a good enough job setting up things for this to be a plot anyone could understand but I should add that having read the first book and knowing why things are happening this way - regarding Parker being a Protector and being discovered in this mess like this - helped me to accept certain things without more explanations. I can assume that for some readers, some information might seem confusing or too sudden.

Although I liked the pace and progress of the protagonists' relationship, I also think after a  while things could have been a bit more obvious in how their bond was established. There are some sweet scenes with them and of course all this was great but sometimes I wish more had been added, that their relationship also had some urgency, some greater need so that had to be together in a much more obvious way... perhaps it's just me, used to certain shape shifter types of "rules"... I think the romantic relationship could have been better highlighted, if more focused on them as guys, rather than on the roles they were given.

Some reviews point out the fact there are some discrepancies in the plot and frustration over the fact everyone takes too long to accept certain realities, but part of me was understandable of the fact this was all new to Greg, mostly. Besides, I feel the emotional places they both were for a while justified the slowness of the process. But yes, after a certain point, some situations could have been handled in a better way. 

Grade: 8/10

Cooper West - The Protector

Guardsmen are always matched in a bonded pair. The Protector can shift into a weredog, and the human partner is his Handler. They are incredibly rare and highly valued, but people also fear them for their mystical abilities. No Protector in living memory has outlived his Handler—until Alex Taylor.
Now a widower, Alex lives a lonely half-life and faces day after day of grief with no hope for happiness in the future. When he unexpectedly bonds with the young and vibrant Handler Marcus Stephanek, Alex is angry and unwilling to leave the memory of his former Handler behind. He pushes Marcus away and tries to distance himself from their bond. But then a mysterious villain who has been secretly shadowing Alex for years sets his plan in motion. Alex and Marcus must learn to trust their bond and love each other, or risk not only their own lives but the lives of those closest to them.

Comment: I've read some interesting comments about this book somewhere, regarding the fact the main couple in this shifter centered story wasn't too keen on the idea of being mates. I was quite curious to see how the author would develop this idea.

Alex Taylor is a Protector, someone who can shift to become a dog. Usually Protectors work in pairs with their Handlers, who don't shift, but all share some sort of genetic makeup that makes them part of the same world and predisposed to be mates. Alex, however, is unique because against all odds and what has always been a fact, when his Handler died, Alex didn't die too. He has resisted, even though he lives with a broken heart...

Marcus Stephanek is a 26 year old Handler, way past the age where usually a bonding happens and he lives sad he never got to have a mate. However, a completely chance encounter with Alex ends up in them realizing they are mates after all, despite what happened to Alex' first Handler. Marcus is ecstatic at first and they bond very quickly but then Alex seems uninterested in having a replacement mate. Biology might make them need to be close, but will they actually bond for real?

As many other readers probably have said and will agree on, the most interesting element of this novel is the world building the author created. Calling mates Protector and Handler isn't such a big deal but there are enough details about this bond and how this happens which makes the evolution of the situations depicted unique and mostly logic. This is the first book I try by the author so I was ready to be entertained by this world.

Considering the fact that the shifters become dogs, very often these pairs work in security or rescue missions or in the military forces and we get to understand there's this sort of unbalance if I may use the word, between the pairs, because often it's the Handler who establishes himself or herself and the Protector goes to live there and they make their living following certain expectations. I suppose this information is made for us to infer the Handler is the one who tends to be more assertive or "alpha" but it can create, if only subconsciously, a slightly unfairness in the relationship.

I'm adding this because it's one more element in why Alex and Marcus don't really work out at first. Between their personalities and pasts, the fact they don't seem to follow a norm - Marcus has a more nomadic lifestyle so he moves in with Alex - is just one more thing why their bond isn't smooth nor appreciated. Alex lost the person he loved the most and of course mourning doesn't have to have a dateline but Alex isn't willing to move on. Despite this, I actually felt a bit more pity for Marcus, because he had this expectation which was never met and now, finally bonding isn't the happiness he envisioned.

I actually liked the fact the author presented the angst between these two in a very obvious and dramatic way. What they both feel isn't easy to deal with, easy to simply ignore or endure but biology and a whole social norm for these types of people (I mean Handlers and Protectors) force them to live a life neither is enjoying. I would say the drama has some exaggerated details, probably to reinforce even more the animosity and the challenge of their situation, but some details failed to impress me.

At the same time, despite the clear focus on the main couple's relationship, we also have supporting secondary characters to give us a different picture (such as Samantha and John, another happily bonded pair) and the doctors who help/follow the pairs, who provide interesting details but that we get to understand aren't always as helpful as they could be. There are also other secondary people and situations to add layers but there are some moments it feels as if it's too much going on.

Still, the story was captivating enough and I was eagerly waiting for the moment the guys would finally talk and agree on trying to be a couple, I was even hopeful something external might prompt them into this, like something to make them have an epiphany or something. However, the author - in my opinion - complicated the drama with a villain and one of those mad schemes that sometimes happen in novels when people have crazy agendas, for instance someone tried to kill Alex because he survived his Handler's death, but I don't think the story needed this. We could still be dazzled by the world building alone with the attention being in the romance only.

The romance has an HEA, sure, but I must say I didn't find the guys' change of heart to be that romantic after all.

Anyway, this was still quite readable but some details brought my grade down. I'll read the second book at some point, just to confirm if this is just how this book is or if it's the author's style.

Grade: 6/10