Review: Command Me, Alpha (Rogue Wolfhounds #6) by Marcy Jacks

Phoenix absolutely hates the human race. Born and bred in a lab, he's a creature that should not exist because of his thirst for blood. He can control these urges now, but sometimes he doesn't want to. When he discovers his mate is human, he doesn't know whether to lock him up or spend every waking moment loving him.

Peter Ramsey is an intern at the hospital, and he hasn't been feeling so good lately. After passing out in the parking lot, he wakes up in a strange place. He was kidnapped by the most handsome man on the planet, a man who lights him up with pleasure only to leave him immediately after they finish.

Though Phoenix is distant, the man is still sending small hints that he cares, and Peter wants to care for him too. He wants to love him, but he cannot spend the rest of his life locked away, not even for love.

Title: Command Me, Alpha (Rogue Wolfhounds #6)
Author/s: Marcy Jacks
Publisher: Siren Publishing Inc.
Publication Date: November 28 2015
ISBN: 978-1-63259-831-8
Buy it from Siren Bookstrand

Maria's Rating: ★★★★★

I've been dying to get my hands on this book ever since the fifth installment stopped at a cliffhanger two weeks ago. My timezone is ahead by a few hours, so you can just imagine how worked up I was as soon as the 28th hit; I was furiously refreshing the Bookstrand page so I'd know as soon as the book was finally available for buying. Finally!

I've always been fascinated by Phoenix. He is, after all, "the biggest human hater of them all", as Dean puts it. We've read some of his interactions with George and Joey, and they weren't exactly pleasant. I've always wondered what it would be like if he got mated to a human, and I was absolutely delighted when I found out that that  was going to be the case.

For someone who hated humans, I thought Phoenix was actually pretty nice to his mate. He was always very aware of what he was doing, and it was interesting to read his conflicting thoughts and feelings toward having Peter as his mate. Peter was both a doctor (in training) and a human, everything that Phoenix had had traumatizing experience with, but Phoenix never once directed his hate to Peter, and I really appreciate that. He was wary of Peter, yes, but he never blamed him for what had been done to him before. In fact, the worst he ever did was distance himself from Peter, despite the growing attraction between them; I honestly thought that was a bit cute. Not that Phoenix would appreciate being called cute.

I liked Peter. He was pretty cool with the whole mating business, and it left me snickering a bit when he admitted being attracted to Phoenix despite the "gruff personality and mean nature in general". He wasn't scared to talk about what he felt (e.g. he told Phoenix he missed him, which of course did all sorts of weird things to Phoenix's heart and ego), and he wasn't scared to go to his mate and confront him about it. I liked him even better when he found what happened to Phoenix and he... didn't try to really open the subject, but he very subtly offered Phoenix an assurance that he was going to be different from the other humans that Phoenix had dealt with in the past. He never showed Phoenix pity or contempt for it, despite Phoenix's deep misgivings about the subject, and I thought his approached just worked. It definitely disarmed Phoenix, which I thought was an important step forward for their relationship.

I squealed like mad when they slept together outside and Phoenix allowed Peter to touch and pet his wolfhound. It really underscored the gradual buildup of trust between them. Oh, and how they admitted they loved each other? That was fantastic. I was reduced to a pile of goo.


In my review of Rogue Wolfhounds #5 I mentioned suspecting that Monster Alpha (Rogue Wolfhounds #7) would be about Hyde because, well, I thought for sure they'd use that sort of title on him. Upon checking Bookstrand, however, I found out that I was wrong. Surprisingly, it turns out book #7 will still be about Phoenix and Peter, when Peter goes back to the hospital and the university.

While I have been really looking forward to reading about Hyde and his mate (who I'm still hoping will be a tiny human who loves cuddling), I am in no way disappointed by this interesting twist. Hell, I AM TOTALLY DOWN WITH THIS CONTINUATION. Marcy Jacks can write three more books about Phoenix and Peter and I'll happily support her, because these two are easily my favorite couple in this series. As it is, book #6 leaves so much room for them to grow, and I'm super excited to find out how their love deepens and how their relationship further develops. Hopefully the next book will show Phoenix coming to trust Peter a hundred percent, and being able to distinguish between his mate and the humans who experimented with him before.

This book is definitely my favorite in the series so far. Can't wait for Monster Alpha.

P.S. I'm really stumped by the development of Dean and Joey's relationship. At the moment I'm at least 85% sure that they aren't mates, because Dean doesn't appear to be experiencing that mysterious pull that Phoenix himself describes as pretty darn intense. Sure, Dean has grown to actually give a shit about Joey, but it just... kind of develops, and it isn't even a desperate need to care for him and make sure he's okay, etc. I have two theories: (1) the experiments fucked with Dean's biology so he's ended up not being able to distinguish his mate, among other things; and (2) Joey and Dean aren't really mates, but Joey has been getting sick because his actual alpha mate is somewhere in the house and there's gonna be one hell of a drama when the alpha mate finally reveals himself.

Of course both my theories could be wrong lol. Just gave it a shot.

Review: Property of the Alpha (Supremacy of Wolves #1) by Shannon West, Victoria Sue

When Quinn, the Supreme Alpha of all the Nine Territories first sees a young man in the arena, he is struck by his beauty and by the fact that despite his chains, he’s barely contained. Quinn recognizes him almost at once as the human who led an assassination attempt on him just weeks before, yet when he tries to take him into custody, he’s shocked to find the human is his fated mate. He has only one option to keep the council from executing the young man for his crimes — to make an example of Aaron, and to debase and degrade him as his love slave so that none of Aaron's followers will celebrate him as a martyr or a hero.

Aaron is on a quest to find his brother, separated from him during the plague that devastated the population, killing seventy percent of all the humans on the planet. When he gets word that his brother is among the rebels, he joins them too, hoping to find him. Instead he gets caught up in a failed assassination attempt on the Supreme Alpha, a strong, powerful wolf shifter who now has Aaron right where he wants him--at his mercy.

Despite his growing attraction to Aaron, Quinn has to try to keep his heart from getting too involved, and when another assassination plot is uncovered, Quinn has to make a difficult decision. He must put Aaron aside despite his feelings for him and imprison him, even though the mating bond between them means Aaron will suffer and die without Quinn. And when Aaron disappears and word gets back to Quinn that he’s dying, he has to take a leap of faith to bring him home and back to Quinn's bed where he belongs.

Title: Property of the Alpha (Supremacy of Wolves #1)
Author/s: Shannon West, Victoria Sue
Publication Date: July 2015
ISBN 10: 1942176864
ISBN 13: 978-1-942176-86-2
Buy it from Dark Hollows Press

Maria's Rating: ★★★★

Having been totally won over by the third installment of this series, I decided I'd reread the first book and write a review as well. Doing so made me realize two things: (1) while it's not a bad book per se, it introduces a lot of questionable 'norms' in this wolf universe that will leave you incredulous and maybe a little disconcerted; and (2) it's a very addicting read – I swear, I've reread it about seven times already, and it just keeps growing on me everytime.

I love Shannon West's alphas. She's at her best when she writes them, and I love her for it. These alphas are always ridiculously good-looking, powerful, and come with nasty tempers. They can be the biggest dicks you ever met, but at the same time – and one of the reasons why I really like them – they can be expected to fight for their mates to the death. The power imbalance is as fascinating as it's tricky; it's a constant source of strife and misunderstandings between alphas and their mates (dominant alphas almost always demand their mates to be submissive), but it also serves as a beautiful reminder that physical strength isn't the one single source of power in a relationship. To put it simply: alphas may talk big and try to boss their submissive mates around, but caring for and protecting their mates are always their #1 priority.

That being said, it should come as no surprise that Quinn is an asshole. He gets better as the series goes on, thank God, but he definitely starts off as a terrible mate material. I believe he's a good alpha as far as having the best interest of his territories at heart goes, but he would have been the last wolf any human would have wanted for a mate. His view of humans is condescending at best, and although I understand that it's the accepted view in this particular universe, it still made me cringe when he all but said that humans are idiots who can't do shit for nothing. Of course, it must be said that history in this universe more than agrees with Quinn, but still...

There are plenty of instances where he treats Aaron very badly, which made it hard for me to like him easily (e.g. Aaron tells Quinn he doesn't like blood or needles, but Quinn insists he knows what's in Aaron's "best interest"). While I knew Quinn would never deliberately hurt Aaron as his mate, I still think he dismissed Aaron's concerns too quickly, like they didn't deserve a thought at all. It's clear enough that he isn't sure whether to spoil Aaron rotten or throttle him headfirst, but the sudden shifts in his actions can be exasperating. Communication isn't one of Quinn's strengths, sadly, and he explicitly says that wolves still don't know a lot about humans, a fact that doesn't help his case one bit. He expects Aaron to follow his orders blindly, even when he makes no attempt to make Aaron understand the reasons behind them. Even the whole mating business isn't explained to Aaron, although I guess that's because Quinn doesn't want him to know how much power he has over him.

It gets somewhat frustrating because we're privy to Aaron's and Quinn's thoughts, and we know that they have a mutual (and almost worrying) affection for each other, but they're too chicken to say anything about it. It's a slow, agonizing burn before they understand what they have between them, because they're both fond of saying one thing despite feeling another. They're scared of giving the other person too much power over them, and it certainly doesn't help that they started off as enemies.

Still, though, I think these conflicting feelings and spoken words make the whole thing work, no matter how twisted. Quinn is a lovestruck idiot, despite being a true alpha, and I think he genuinely wants only the best for his mate. He's really just terrible at showing that he cares because of his massive pride, and he obviously has to work on that, but at the very least I appreciated his cooperation with Jaime/Jay when Aaron's well-being was at stake. He even apologized (even if he was still arrogant about it lol), which I thought was a solid step forward.

One thing that really made me grin about this book is Aaron finally realizing that he has as much control over Quinn as Quinn does over him, maybe even more. It happens toward the end, so it's a bit late, but it means a lot, because even when the words are unspoken it's as if there's a silent understanding between Quinn and Aaron about the power dynamics in their relationship. I thought that was very interesting, and it left a lot of potential for their future as mates.

I can't remember how many times I've reread this book, because like I said it grew on me each time. I don't believe this book is for everyone, but I still consider it a very good read worthy of four stars.