When Brandon finally gets his chance to train to become an alpha, he’s ecstatic. His joy doesn’t last long, however, when he soon finds himself one of the two most unpopular of the new trainees, along with a former house-human named Cody. Even their trainers, Rhys and Tucker think they don’t have what it takes and despite a growing attraction to the men, both trainers seem determined to wash them out. Even worse Brandon is more and more convinced that Rhys is his true mate. After a violent encounter with other recruits, both Brandon and Cody find themselves back home, wondering how it all went so wrong. Then Quinn, the Supreme Alpha, comes up with a bold new idea for a Black Ops team, and to Brandon and Cody’s surprise, they’re chosen as members, along with their former trainers Rhys and Tucker.
Brandon and Cody are determined to make good on this second chance, but their alpha partners doubt their abilities to perform their duties. The fact that Rhys is attracted to Brandon almost against his will only complicates things. When the new team is called up, it means Brandon has to work undercover for Mikkail, the hated homophobic bigot who tortured Brandon’s wolf the last time he got his hands on him. It soon becomes clear that the men will have to draw together to become a team or risk losing everything, including their lives.
Brandon and Cody are determined to make good on this second chance, but their alpha partners doubt their abilities to perform their duties. The fact that Rhys is attracted to Brandon almost against his will only complicates things. When the new team is called up, it means Brandon has to work undercover for Mikkail, the hated homophobic bigot who tortured Brandon’s wolf the last time he got his hands on him. It soon becomes clear that the men will have to draw together to become a team or risk losing everything, including their lives.
Title: Strength of the Alpha (Supremacy of Wolves #3)
Author/s: Shannon West, Victoria Sue
Publication Date: October 2015
ISBN 10: 194405413
ISBN 13: 978-1-944054-010-6
Buy it from Dark Hollows Press
Maria's Rating: ★★★★★
Author/s: Shannon West, Victoria Sue
Publication Date: October 2015
ISBN 10: 194405413
ISBN 13: 978-1-944054-010-6
Buy it from Dark Hollows Press
Maria's Rating: ★★★★★
Okay, I really, REALLY loved this. Shannon West and Victoria Sue totally outdid themselves with this installment, and I wanted the story to last forever.
I'm ridiculously fond of Alphas despite their asshole-ish, caveman ways, but I really liked Rhys and Tucker. They had their dumb alpha moments, sure, but overall I found them quite endearing. Rhys was particularly infuriating with his insistence on trying to get away from Brandon, but I liked him, and I never had to stop and think 'why the hell would anyone want this one for a mate?' His narrative was solid; being given a chance to read from his perspective made it easy to like him. He was a big ball of contradiction, which made him much easier to relate to. For example, he said he didn't like Brandon AT ALL, but deep down, it's easy to see that 'oops nope he totally lied what a clueless, lovestruck idiot lmao'. It actually made me grin a bit when Cody basically said that everyone already knew how much in love Rhys was with Brandon, except Rhys. That was ridiculously cute. And I probably shouldn't describe an alpha as 'cute'. Not that I'm stopping.
Tucker was intriguing to me. I thought the idea of having human Alphas was very clever, and it was nice to have him as a sort of human representative, proving that not all humans are weak (unlike Quinn's original thought! boo Quinn lmao jk I like that guy). I loved how protective he was of Cody, and I gushed a whole lot whenever he showed it (e.g. when Cody got bullied; when he visited Cody in his tiny room). He was tough and scary without trying, but he was also sweet and thoughtful and super protective - he was PERFECT. I actually kinda wish he'd been turned at some point in the story, just because I wanted him and Cody to have the whole mates deal going on for them, too. But I guess that would kind of ruin the ideas of human alphas. I thought him and Cody marrying in the end was hella sweet, by the way. It was wonderful.
I'm not particularly fond of damsels in distress (or, uh, dudes in distress in this case?), so I was very happy that Brandon and Cody were neither incapable nor in need of rescuing. Their strengths weren't muscle and brawn, but they were both very sharp and skilled, and I really appreciated that. They could do SOMETHING, and although that might not mean defeating their Alphas on the mat, what they did were actually key to accomplishing what needed to be done for that pack. Sometimes they needed their alpha's help, of course, I won't say they didn't - but these two definitely kicked some serious ass, although not in the traditional way people probably expected them to. They were just the right balance of vulnerable and fierce, and it was BEAUTIFUL. I loved reading about Tucker and Cody, Brandon and Rhys getting together.
I also wanted to commend both authors for writing about two pairs in one book. I thought they found a good mix; one pair was given just as much focus as the other, and it worked well; all four of them came together to tell a very good story.
The only thing that really ticked me off about this book were the editing issues. There were a few places that had some typos and character names were mixed up, etc. I honestly thought the editors could have done better - surely they could have checked that one? It really irritates me to find mistakes like that in my favorite books. Especially since one of the two authors is Shannon West, and she's a big name in this industry and genre, hello. I swear, if there was an opening, I'd totally sign up for DHP to proofread this series prior to release, because I really love it.
That aside, this is still a very good book, and I loved every second of it. There wasn't a lot of sex, which was pretty surprising, but I think it added strength to it, made the emotions more raw and real. I hope we see more of these characters in the future, and I'm definitely looking forward to the next installment of the series.
Solid 5/5.
I'm ridiculously fond of Alphas despite their asshole-ish, caveman ways, but I really liked Rhys and Tucker. They had their dumb alpha moments, sure, but overall I found them quite endearing. Rhys was particularly infuriating with his insistence on trying to get away from Brandon, but I liked him, and I never had to stop and think 'why the hell would anyone want this one for a mate?' His narrative was solid; being given a chance to read from his perspective made it easy to like him. He was a big ball of contradiction, which made him much easier to relate to. For example, he said he didn't like Brandon AT ALL, but deep down, it's easy to see that 'oops nope he totally lied what a clueless, lovestruck idiot lmao'. It actually made me grin a bit when Cody basically said that everyone already knew how much in love Rhys was with Brandon, except Rhys. That was ridiculously cute. And I probably shouldn't describe an alpha as 'cute'. Not that I'm stopping.
Tucker was intriguing to me. I thought the idea of having human Alphas was very clever, and it was nice to have him as a sort of human representative, proving that not all humans are weak (unlike Quinn's original thought! boo Quinn lmao jk I like that guy). I loved how protective he was of Cody, and I gushed a whole lot whenever he showed it (e.g. when Cody got bullied; when he visited Cody in his tiny room). He was tough and scary without trying, but he was also sweet and thoughtful and super protective - he was PERFECT. I actually kinda wish he'd been turned at some point in the story, just because I wanted him and Cody to have the whole mates deal going on for them, too. But I guess that would kind of ruin the ideas of human alphas. I thought him and Cody marrying in the end was hella sweet, by the way. It was wonderful.
I'm not particularly fond of damsels in distress (or, uh, dudes in distress in this case?), so I was very happy that Brandon and Cody were neither incapable nor in need of rescuing. Their strengths weren't muscle and brawn, but they were both very sharp and skilled, and I really appreciated that. They could do SOMETHING, and although that might not mean defeating their Alphas on the mat, what they did were actually key to accomplishing what needed to be done for that pack. Sometimes they needed their alpha's help, of course, I won't say they didn't - but these two definitely kicked some serious ass, although not in the traditional way people probably expected them to. They were just the right balance of vulnerable and fierce, and it was BEAUTIFUL. I loved reading about Tucker and Cody, Brandon and Rhys getting together.
I also wanted to commend both authors for writing about two pairs in one book. I thought they found a good mix; one pair was given just as much focus as the other, and it worked well; all four of them came together to tell a very good story.
The only thing that really ticked me off about this book were the editing issues. There were a few places that had some typos and character names were mixed up, etc. I honestly thought the editors could have done better - surely they could have checked that one? It really irritates me to find mistakes like that in my favorite books. Especially since one of the two authors is Shannon West, and she's a big name in this industry and genre, hello. I swear, if there was an opening, I'd totally sign up for DHP to proofread this series prior to release, because I really love it.
That aside, this is still a very good book, and I loved every second of it. There wasn't a lot of sex, which was pretty surprising, but I think it added strength to it, made the emotions more raw and real. I hope we see more of these characters in the future, and I'm definitely looking forward to the next installment of the series.
Solid 5/5.
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