SWAT: Special Wolf Alpha Team, Book #10
Heat Factor: There is a reference to a Slip N’ Slide
Character Chemistry: Fated mates, but they work as a team very well
Plot: Forget the DA in danger, the clown had me clutching my pearls
Overall: Really fun
Shifters! Yay! I picked up this book because it’s part of a series called SWAT: Special Werewolf Alpha Team.
I mean, really. How, HOW can you not want to pick up this book and see what’s going on here? Nevermind that the entire pack of werewolf police are also alphas. Please leave your skepticism at the door. This ride’s about to get wild.
This is book gazillion (and by that I mean 10) in the SWAT series, so of course there are numerous characters that have had their own stories told and flitted in and out of several books.
You don’t need to read the other books (I haven’t, having just discovered the series), but it would probably be fun to do so. Needless to say, there is backstory. I’m not going to get bogged down with that.
Tyler’s werewolves become werewolves not because they are bitten but because they have a genetic mutation that triggers when they experience a life-threatening trauma. In the case of our heroine, Rachel, it occurs when she is repeatedly stabbed by a creepy AF clown in a graveyard while on duty. That’s right. Coulrophobics, please do not pick up this book. I don’t like clowns or horror but I can deal, and yet: Holy Freaky Facepaint, Batman, this clown needed to die.
Flash forward a couple of years. Rachel’s been having some traumatic experiences on her SWAT team (at least a few, if the nine prior books are anything to go by), and she’s struggling. She’s also smelling something and is convinced she’s being followed.
It turns out Rachel is being followed–by her mate.
Knox got turned into a werewolf when he took a bullet meant for Rachel, and he’s been following her around for a couple of months trying to figure things out and knowing she’s the one to help him. Thankfully, Tyler addresses the stalker aspect with some humor, so we can get over the fact that that’s kind of weird and just let the fated mates thing happen for these two.
Side note: Tyler apparently doesn’t want to commit to fated mates, except that she does, so she refers to mates as The One. I found this distractingly gooey. Let’s all just agree that they’re mated and leave the goo in the bottle.
Knox and Rachel do some work on their relationship, especially because she doesn’t trust him due to his past, but the fated mates aspect of shifter books seems specifically designed to allow the romance to happen without having to make it a real focus of the story. Knox will protect Rachel at any cost, so when the suspense plot goes down, we’re there for it.
Now, this book has two suspense plotlines tracking at the same time. Rachel and Knox are working a security detail for a DA who is in the middle of prosecuting a Very Bad Man. Someone tried to blow up her car, so the police put SWAT on the security detail (Rachel) while her husband hired private security (Knox). This plotline = “Who’s trying to kill the DA? Let’s stop it.”
The second plotline is tied to Rachel’s PTSD and some of the problems she’s been having for the two months prior to the start of Chapter 1. She’s started seeing the clown everywhere and she’s convinced she’s losing her mind. When I read the clown in the prologue I was like, “Oh hell no.” Then I thought it was over. IT WASN’T. THAT IS WHY THE CLOWN NEEDS TO DIE. This plotline = “Let’s get Rachel help before she rips out someone’s throat with her claws because the evil clown is tormenting her.”
While the tone and presentation of most of this book tracks pretty closely with a police/SEALs suspense novel, please remember that there are shifters here, and we are actually reading a paranormal book. The stuff that goes down as the book reaches its climax is bananapants amazing. If you like romantic suspense, even if you’re not all that into shifters, you’ll probably have a great time reading this book. If you like romantic suspense and shifters, what are you still doing reading this review?
I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We disclose this in accordance with 16 CFR §255.
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Thank you so much for the fantastic review! So glad you loved it! 🙂
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Our pleasure! Thanks for writing a great book (and for getting Erin completely hooked on shifter stories).
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