Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Desert Wolf (Wolves of Willow Bend #8) by Heather Long


I LOVE this cover!


Blurb:
Cassius, Alpha of Sutter Butte, leads the most ruthless and dangerous pack in the United States. A pack comprised of misfits who didn’t fit in their previous packs, cast offs discarded by their packs and forgotten wolves who rose to create a pack more than a century before it utter defiance of the order of the day. Sometimes pitiless and cruel, he wants more for his people than a yearly bloodbath as they fight for a new place, a better spot in the pecking order. To change his pack, means to change himself and he will find rebellion on all sides, not the least of which is his own defiant heart. 

Sovvan Stark, Omega of Delta Crescent, lives a cherished, beloved life in the center of her pack, a delicate and hard won balance. Though she is not the only Omega, she is the most experienced with the tremors of pack upset when power shifts from Alpha to Alpha. When her Alpha approaches her about Sutter Butte’s request, Sovvan considers the matter for several long months. While she might hold within her the key to helping the Sutter Butte Alpha, the undertaking could very well kill her. 

Accompanied by a single Hound, Sovvan begins a journey to help Cassius rebuild the foundation of his pack, but first she will have to transform him…
 

My review:
Cassius, Alpha of Sutter Butte, is snarly and mean and rough and tuff and buff and stuff  but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel, doesn’t want, doesn’t hope. What he wants is to take his pack into a less violent less fearful future. To do that he needs help; Sovvan Stark, Omega of Delta Crescent is the help Cassius feels it will take. He doesn’t expect who she is and what she does to him personally but isn’t crazy enough to look fate in the mouth. He just doesn’t know if he is going to live long enough to enjoy her. Sovvan is an Omega. A special type of wolf. She isn’t immediately cowed by any Alpha and so stands outside pack structure. Her gift is reflection. She can reflect your weakness back at you. She can discover a packs weakness. She can also it seems borrow your fear, anger, grief or intense emotion and use it. She responded to Cassius’s need to improve the lot of his pack she didn’t expect to fall for him.
Heather Long is a fantastic story teller and this may be her best story yet. Desert Wolf can be read standalone but will be better enjoyed if you’ve read the rest of the series. I loved everything about Sovvan except for her name (for which I had to use a dofer cause I couldn’t figure out how to pronounce it) and Cassius turned out to be deeper than he’s let anyone know. This book will leave you feeling good and hopeful for the future of the Sutter Butte pack.
Complimentary copy provided by author/publisher for an honest review but I bought my own copy as well.

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