Shattered Pack
(Alpha Girl #6)
by Aileen Erin
Publisher: Ink Monster, LLC
Publication date: March 28, 2017
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Rating:
Meredith Molloney never thought she’d find a mate, let alone someone like Donovan Murry—one of the most powerful Alphas alive. Now that she’s no longer cursed and the evil Luciana Alvarez has been taken care of, she thinks life will finally settle down. Boy, has she never been so wrong.
In the middle of the night, Donovan gets a call telling him that his pack has gone to pieces. The news that his second in command has been found brutally murdered has Donovan packing his bags for Ireland, but the last thing Meredith wants to do is leave Texas. She’s heard about how the Celtic Pack are with outsiders. And Donovan has more than a few exes in the pack that will be less than friendly.
Meredith’s never let a few angry wolves stop her, and she’s not about to start now. She’s faced down much worse the past few months. But when she gets there, she finds that it’s not just a few exes who stand in the way between her and her Full Moon Ceremony with Donovan.
Meredith is thrust in to a deadly game of pack politics, one the fey have happily joined in on. When the dust settles, she knows she’ll either have everything that she wants or lose it all.
My thoughts…
I read the first book in the series, Becoming Alpha, and really enjoyed it. However, I kind of lost track of the series and before I knew it, Shattered Pack was coming out. I was assured that it could be read as a stand-alone since it features a new pairing of characters. I was really excited to get back into this world and catch up with everyone. I will say that the beginning was a little slow for me since I hadn’t read whatever book that was being referenced a lot. Apparently Donovan and Meredith have been true mates for a while and are gearing up for their ceremony. They had a run-in with witches and demons and it was clearly something big enough that it was still brought up in this book. I did feel a little left out when it came to talks about events that happened in previous books, but once the story picked up, that was all left behind and we started to focus on the here and now for these two characters.
Donovan is a council member for all shifters as well as an Alpha to an Ireland pack. Trying to juggle the two hasn’t been easy and he’s clearly been neglecting his pack. When things start going south back home, he and Meredith head over to see what’s going on and figure out if he can repair his pack. Since I didn’t read the previous stories I have no idea how old Donovan is. There’s talk that he’s really old and should know better when it comes to certain things, meanwhile, I’m pretty sure Meredith is still just a teen. So with that being said, I really felt that Donovan should have known better and should have handled things a lot differently. I get that he felt like he owed his pack for being absent so much but tip-toeing around issues because you don’t want to stir the pot just annoyed me. Maybe if we got some chapters in Donovan’s POV we would see that he was being productive but from what I saw, Meredith was the only one hunting down the troublemaker in a pack full of hostile wolves who were none too pleased that she was there. She stuck her neck out more times than I could count between reaching out to other pack members and questioning the local police. I just felt like for a werewolf that was “oh so old and powerful,” Donovan really dropped the ball. I would expect all of this more from a fellow teenager or young adult who just took over a hostile pack, not a well-established Alpha wolf.
I thought the mystery of the novel was handled really well. Who doesn’t love to read a “who done it” story and try to figure out who the culprit is. It’s even better when you get it wrong. Me? I was oh so close, but I did not get the cigar. So to that I applaud the author. She left hints and clues throughout and although I was picking up on them, I locked onto the wrong character. I always love it when I am unable to figure out who the villain is.
Shattered Pack was an interesting story. I liked the mystery behind it all and the fact that you knew the clock was ticking. While I didn’t care for the Hero, I really enjoyed the heroine and thought she stepped up for the both of them. Even though it’s said you can read this as a stand-alone, I definitely recommend reading the series as a whole. There’s just so much that references previous events and characters that I kind of felt like the tag-along friend who doesn’t know anyone at the party. I was still able to follow and enjoy the story but I think I would have enjoyed it so much more if I already had a base knowledge of the characters and their backgrounds.
Favorite quote…
“I was a survivor. And I was going to enjoy everything life had to offer. Come what may.”
Previous reviews from Alpha Girl
Becoming Alpha
Oh man! I haven’t read any wolf stories this year, and this one sounds like a decent one. Great review Kristin 🙂
Bummer you didn’t care for the hero, but it does sound good.
Darn on the hero. I’d not seen these before. I do love the wolfly ones.
Oh man I still need to read book one *hangs head*
It’s nice that you don’t know who the culprit is. I like when the author stumps me. It’s hard to do.