ARC REVIEW Forever Wolf by Maria Vale

Legend of all Wolves #3, Oh My Gosh this book! There is so much I love about this book and this series. The narration, seeing the pack through Varya's eyes and seeing the transition of her feelings about them at the beginning of the book to the end of the book. How in depth the wolf's history goes especially with the norse mythology. Each of the characters past and present it was easy to connect with them, with it being in the first person POV you get to hear all the internal conflict. Varya despite her devotion to the pack and her Alpha still feels like she's not part of it, referring to the pack as "them" not "us" because of what happened in her past she's not letting herself get emotionally attached she doesn't feel she deserves it. She follows the pack laws and enforces them, she doesn't care that the other wolves are afraid of her she uses that fear to her advantage but when she discovers a lone wolf on their territory a white wolf who knows nothing of the pack and their laws she finds herself bending the rules for him. She feels a deep connection to him not just because he's an arctic wolf like her it goes beyond that, but the fact that he has two different colored eyes has her keep him hidden from the pack. But he's not the one the pack is worried about the shifters are at it again, this time bringing in the threat of human hunters. But Varya steps up to the plate and helps protect the coveted pups among other things. I really hope this isn't the end of the series but it did have definite closure elements in the epilogue.

Overall, I loved this book. It has the kind of ending that really made me cry. This whole series is something to behold.

ARC REVIEW A Wolf Apart by Maria Vale

The Legend of All Wolves #2, One reason I love this series so far is how wolf like the characters are even in their human form and acting human and being away from their home and their pack can be detrimental to their mental health. Elijah has been living with the humans for too long and ever since the devastation of pack in the last book he's needed to be home more than ever, but when he asked his new Alpha she said the pack still needs him on the outside. Hurt and feeling more disconnected to his pack then ever then he meets her, Goddess of the City of Wolves, Thea Villalobos. He fascinated by this human who smells of outdoors, and chooses to live away from society and help protect the woods and wildlife. Thea is a environmental protection officer in need of a lawyer not because she's in trouble with the law but to help her with trapper problems. Eli promises to help and creates an excuse just to see her again. Even after their business is concluded he finds reasons to see her. Thea sees another side to Eli, she knows he's a lot more than the stuffy, manwhor-ish lawyer. She sees how lost he is how empty inside he feels and Thea makes him feel things he's never felt before now he's torn between his pack and his love for her.

Another thing I enjoyed about the book was how the first person POV was written. At the beginning Eli is very hard and straight forward as he explains how he views the humans and the city but after meeting Thea and his botched challenge you can see that he starts perceiving the world differently through his narration; it goes from stilted and hard to more fluid and caring. Overall it was another great book it was angsty in all the right ways and exciting and intense. Thea and Eli fit so well together I loved their romance.     

ARC REVIEW The Last Wolf by Marie Vale

The Last Wolf is the first book of Marie Vale's Legend of All Wolves, it's also her debut novel. The Last Wolf isn't the last wolf in existence it's Silver's pecking order in the pack, she has the least amount of power, strength all because when she shifts she only has three good legs, and she is a runt. Unless she's paired up with someone she basically become a slave to her alphas. The Great North Pack is exactly what it seems it is the greatest and the strongest pack in all of North America. They have strict rules that must be followed to insure the safety of the pack it's how they lasted this long. Silver has only dreamed of moving up in the pack, she knows it hopeless until one day the stranger shows up.

This is not really your standard PNR werewolf/shifter romance. What really sets it apart from the others is that they are wolves, their true form is wolf they just have been blessed with the ability to transform in to human, the only stipulation is that for the full moon they have no choice but to be wolves. The book starts in England hundreds of years ago when the wolf packs were dying off because the human population was getting to great and they migrated to the new country. They bought land and set it up to where they would always have it and have a safe place to live without human interaction. Because this is the first book of a new series there's a lot of setting up and explaining of lore and how things work in the pack. But it makes sense how it is done and the reason is twofold, Silver has to explain how things are done to Tiberius as a new pack member and at the same time explain it to us the reader.

When the wounded stranger first appears asking for sanctuary the alpha turns him down because he is only half wolf the other half is something the wolves have learned no to trust, a shifter. But Silver sees a strong male who could help her gain rank in the pack and at the risk of everything she pairs with him. Tib doesn't realize it at the time but when Silver agreed to their pairing she no longer was pack and when he heals Tib and Silver have to earn their way in by fighting the alphas. Silver and Tib barely make it back in. They gradually go from friends to lovers but Tib's big secret is keeping him from fully mating with Silver. The secret is one that has the potential to break what little trust the pack and Silver have in him.

Overall, I love how primal they are as a pack they are first and foremost wolves and humans second. They are self sufficient for the most part and only interact with humans as needed. They do let pack members out for education and such but they always come back. I love how in depth the lore goes and the fact that the characters in the book make fun of the werewolf pop culture. Silver and Tib are quite the couple he makes a crappy wolf and she makes a crappy human but what they share goes deeper than that and really enjoyed them and I really enjoyed this world Vale has created, I look forward to more books.