Burn by Zoe Perdita
Burn by Zoe Perdita
Publisher: Eccentric Erotica
Publishing Date: 5 November 2013
Genre: MM Romance, Paranormal
Rating: 2 Stars
BLURB:
When Ben and Axel settled in Santa Cruz, they thought they’d finally get some peace.
They were wrong.
An old pack war is brewing, and two local werewolves need their help.
Quinton Santos and Gage Varela are the only remaining wolves from the once great Westside pack. As a dangerous threat resurfaces, they need an alpha to lead their pack. But Gage and Quinton are only beta wolves.
Even worse, they can hardly stand each other.
Gage knows the rich and arrogant Quinton is his mate. While giving into his desire for the beautiful man is easy, Gage isn’t about to fall in love.
Quinton used to be confident, but the fire that killed his family left scars deeper than those on his skin. He knows Gage is the stronger wolf, and he’s worked hard to prove he’s not weak. But no matter what Quinton does, Gage only sees him as rich and useless.
When the leader of the rival Eastside pack, a destructive alpha hell-bent on killing them, attacks, they need Axel and Ben’s help to defeat him. Axel and Ben work to bring their new pack together, but it isn’t easy with two betas who are at each others throats.
After years of hurt, can Gage and Quinton let go of the darkness in the past and forgive enough to fall in love?
REVIEW:
I don’t even know what to rate this. I am really disappointed. I loved the first book in the series. And let me just start by saying that I hate it when the next couple in a series is sacrificed for the purpose of the initial couple. Loathe it. I don’t think a sequel, introducing a new couple, should be completely overwhelmed by the old one. My personal preference is to read about the new couple, it’s why I bought their book in the first place. If I wanted to read about the previous, in detail (of course I still enjoy little glimpses and cameos of the couple I fell in love with initially), then I would buy another book written about them. Or reread the first one. I do like when a series focuses entirely on one couple. I like it when a series focuses on different couples. I don’t like it when the series cannot make up it’s mind on where to focus, and is all over the place. Sigh.
The decision to so significantly split the POV’s between the main couple and the couple from the first book seriously compromises my ability to become invested in the main characters. Axel and Ben were about 1/3 of this book. So I ended up not really giving a shit about Quinton and Gage. Ok, I did a little. But between the other POV’s and all the flashbacks, there was not much time dedicated to the development of their feelings in the present. There was no immediacy. The emotions didn’t feel significant. It was just lacking. Completely. The whole thing was a bit of a let down.
The book was good on some levels. I like the writing. I did enjoy learning about Axel and Ben’s progress, and establishing their new pack. But it’s like the book was trying to be two things. It did not work. It was trying to be a book about the continuation of Ben and Axel’s story. At the same time it was trying to be a book about the story of their two new pack mates who are struggling to fight their own demons, dealing with past issues, falling in love (or admitting it finally), and…whatever. I get that their stories were interconnected. Really, I do. I just think it could have been done better. Either the two storylines needed to be split, or the book needed to be much longer in order to effectively shift the focus onto Quinton and Gage. As it stands, the amount of page time they have is not sufficient to develop their story. Not nearly enough to get me invested.
Quinton was extremely unlikeable at first. Typically, I like unlikeable characters. I’m just contrary like that. However, this only works for me as long as there is enough time dedicated to that characters growth. I need to know what makes them tick. I need self-reflection. I need something to call upon my feels. Nope. Not enough of that here. The growth was practically non-existent because by the time Quinton and Gage figure their shit out, the book is over. It all felt so rushed.
The only new character I cared about in this book was Luca. He was on about 15 pages (if that). That’s a problem. I am looking forward to his book. I just hope that it redeems the series for me, and he doesn’t have to share his book with Axel, Ben, Quinton AND Gage.
I’ve decided to go with 2 Stars. 1 for the writing, and 1 because I still like the paranormal aspects of this series. This book continued that. The werewolf dynamics are interesting. And the whole mating thing is handled in a way that it manages to not make me roll my eyes.
The Morning After Romance 