Mini Reviews – Alpine Woods Shifters by Sondrae Bennett

I will admit that I am not normally a novella reader, but I came across this series one day and got sucked in. The novella’s are from The Alpine Woods Shifter Series by Sondrae Bennett and I decided to do a mini review for each of the books. I put them all below, enjoy. 🙂

Title: Artic Winds

Author: Sondrae Bennett

Release Date: January 17th, 2011

Genre: Adult Paranormal Romance

Nothing will stop a wolf once he’s found his mate . . . not even her own doubts.

After her skulk abandoned her four years ago, Samantha knew she would never truly be wanted. When she accidentally stumbles into a wolf town and is asked by their premier to stay, she believes it’s the novelty of an arctic fox motivating him. She knows she’ll be on her own again once he tires of her.

Jason finds himself pulled to Samantha from the moment she faints in his arms. His wolf is calling to him, telling him he’s found their mate and the heat he feels for Samantha is impossible to resist. But his little fox is loaded down with emotional baggage and doesn’t believe she’s worthy of love. Can he overcome her fears? Or will pack jealousies and the local foxes convince her she doesn’t belong with him before he has a chance?

Summary from Goodreads.com

My Review: I usually try to avoid novellas, just because they never seem to have enough in there for me to grasp onto, but this book is the exception. Sondrae somehow managed to give a full plot arc and well developed characters that I fell in love with.

Samantha is a drifter, she lives in a town only long enough to save up some money and then move onto the next own. She was abandoned by her skulk years ago and as a result does not trust easily. I enjoyed watching her grow and begin to trust again. She has such a pure soul and longs to find a home of her own. Her journey was sweet and I grew to love her easily.

As for Jason, he is definitely an alpha male used to getting his way. He is his packs premier (aka leader) and not used to asking for things politely. While he does demand things from Samantha at first, he soon learns that even though she may be shy, she is not going to back down to him. I enjoyed watching him learn to love and understand what a mutual relationship was.

I also loved the secondary characters that were in the pack and out of it. Jason’s siblings, Ethan and Laurie were quite comical and I hope we get to more of them in the future. I also enjoyed the brief glimpse at Cody, the fox premier! 😉 I know he is going to be trouble for some woman out there, I just hope we get to see it happen.

The only downside to Arctic Wind was me wanting more. There were things that blacked out such as a dinner date that I wanted to experience with the characters. I know that this is a novella and therefore it is much shorter in length, but the material is there and I am hoping that one day we might get to see a full length novel from Sondrae. In the meantime, I have downloaded the second novella in this series and will be reading that next.

Title: Chasing Paradise

Author: Sondrae Bennett

Release Date: August 1st, 2011

Genre: Adult Paranormal Romance

He’ll do whatever it takes to earn back her trust.

A vacation is exactly what Ethan needs to escape the mate hungry females in his pack. Determined to have fun, he can’t think of a better way to start than sampling all the different flavors the shifter only resort has to offer, and not the food variety. But after he meets Gwen, no one else holds any interest for him. Ethan came on
vacation to avoid mating. There’s no way he’s going to give up his freedom without a fight.

Gwen is devastated when she hears her mate denying everything they are to each other. She can’t sit by, watching him fool around with other girls at the resort. Or worse, crawl back, unable to resist the mating pull but not really wanting her. She needs to get away and her own vacation sounds like the perfect plan. But she should have remembered what her mother always taught her, never run from a predator unless you want them to chase you. The hunt is on . . .

Summary from Goodreads.com

My Review: This is the second novella in Sondrae’s Alpine Woods Shifters series and was just as steamy as the first one. They are novellas so everything does happen a little quicker than it normally would, but am still enjoying them.

I loved Ethan when we met him in the first book and was looking forward to seeing what kind of woman was going to keep his attention. He is sarcastic and another alpha male who is used to getting his way. His mouth does get him in trouble a couple of times, but he is still very lovable.

I liked Gwen, but I did not love her like I did Samantha. I wanted her to fight more for what she deserved and not always think she was not good enough. Her self-doubt was getting on my nerves a little bit, but I can understand insecurities after she heard what Ethan had to say about her in the beginning. Luckily, it does not last forever and she and Ethan have a sweet courtship.

Overall, I am still enjoying this novella series and am looking forward to the next one.

Title: The Wolf Within

Author: Sondrae Bennett

Release Date: November 21st, 2011

Genre: Adult Paranormal Romance

Will his love be enough to keep her safe?

Julie doesn’t know what to think when the man she’s had a crush on her entire life–a man she thinks is meant to be her sister’s mate–starts flirting with her after she returns home from college. The harder she tries to distance herself, the harder he works to win her over. He can’t want to mate with her…a freak born a full human among shifters. So why won’t he accept her rejection?

Brendan waited years for Julie’s return. Now that she’s finally home, there’s nothing to keep him from her…not even her three alpha wolf brothers. But he’s not the only one after Julie. Something is stalking her and Brendan’s protective instincts toward her kick in, but at what cost?

When the unthinkable happens, will Julie and Brendan’s love give them the strength they need to persevere?

Summary from Goodreads.com

My Review: I have enjoyed reading these novellas and liked the last two couples, but I definitely loved Julie and Brendan. Something about them having a little bit of a history and the threat that always loomed in the background just made this story much more alluring to me. Sondrae has writing short, fast paced, hot novella’s down. There is just enough story there to leave me happy, but always wanting more. I could easily see any of these being a full length novel and would love to see more from all of the shifters we have seen mentioned so far.

Brendan has known Julie is his mate for quite some time, but the age difference and her three alpha brothers has kept him at a distance until she finally returns from college. Julie has always secretly pined for Brendan, but thought he was meant for her sister, so she has tried to bury her feelings. These two don’t wait long to clear the air though and get together pretty quickly. Luckily, they do slow down which gave me time to connect with them emotionally and let them just enjoy their time together.

We do get to briefly catch up with some of the other siblings and see how their lives have changed since we left them. And we find out that one of them is pregnant, but you’re going to have to read to figure out which one. I like that Sandrae lets us revisit characters we have already read about. I get so attached to the characters I read about, so getting to see that they are okay and doing well is always enjoyable.

Overall, I have really enjoyed this series and look forward to more stories in the future. I ate up all three novellas in one weekend and am definitely ready for Cody’s story now. Looks like I have quite a wait though since it is not due out until May, but I know I will enjoy it once it does release. If you are looking for a quick, great paranormal romance novella then this series is for you! 🙂