Book Review: Pack Promised (Thrown to the Wolves #1) by J. Kearston

Book Title: Pack Promised (Thrown to the Wolves #1)

Author: J. Kearston

Published Date: January 21st 2022

Format: Ebook

Number of Pages: 203

Book Rating: 3.5 Stars

For my Star review system information click here.

Book Description:

The wolves waiting in the wind are always watching.

My life has never been normal. Raised by a survivalist, taught how to endure anything, I've learned to rely on myself. To keep my head down-- to mind my own business. That all changes in an instant when I hear the screams.

There, in that filthy alley, I thought I was pulling Emmeline out of the darkness and toward safety, but it turns out, she was pulling me in. My new friend's world collides with my own, and they couldn't be more different. Where I spend my days alone, she rarely can. Not with four brooding brothers hellbent on her protection, watching over her every move like dark guardians.

Guardians that set their sights on me, who want to claim me as their own.

Theirs is a world of violence and bloodshed, of teeth and fangs. Monsters lurk in the shadows, just waiting for their chance to strike. A sane person would be terrified, but even as danger closes in around us, I know without a shadow of a doubt that they’re bigger threats than the ones they tell me I should fear.

To protect their family, they'll become the monsters of legends and myths. The question is, if I’m supposed to be their salvation, does that mean I’m even more cursed than they are?

To save us all, am I willing to damn myself?

Review:

* Disclaimer: I start all my reviews with this disclaimer. I might not have liked a book but that doesn't mean you won't. We all read books differently based on personal opinions, personal preferences, personal life experiences, etc. Same goes for me loving a book, you might not feel the same way and that's completely OK! The beauty of reading is that no book will be read the same way. Hell, sometimes even reading a book a second time will make it hit completely differently or make me question why I liked it in the first place. All this to say, I hope that reading my reviews can help you learn more about the book and why I felt the way I did, and then help you decide based on your personal preferences if the book would be a good fit for you or not.

I was unsure about this one when I started. I sometimes have to turn off my inner editor brain with some books because if not I get too caught up on things I would have changed and get pulled from the story too often. When I did this I started to enjoy this book better but there was certain stylistic choices used in the writing I couldn't get on board with and kept jumping out at me as I read.

I often couldn't understand what was happening or what people were saying and had to re-read certain passages multiple times, sometimes even then I couldn't understand what the author was trying to show or what the character was saying. Some of it was slang I think? Maybe typos? That was the main thing which really brought my rating down. It the flow of the book was improved on, the events moved better and weren't so abrupt and those moment where I had no idea what was happening/what the characters were talking about were fewer my rating would be much higher.

I did mostly like the characters? The Female MC was not the best but not bad. Some of her inner monologues made sense but again were also a bit confusing, like the author was speaking from personal experience and I was missing a few important pieces to be able to fully get it. The love interests I liked, but I felt could have been a bit more developed. I loved their actions but not really them as individual characters.

I think the set up was cool, that the world the author build was really nice. Overall It was good, and I hit a part maybe 75% through were I was ALL in and super invested but then it slowed down again and lost some of my interest.

I honestly wasn't angry about how fast the romance advanced it made not much sense but I was also happy to just go along with it. It wasn't like some stories where they see each other and instantly are like "you are the one" it advanced fast but also for good reasons. So that on the most part well executed to me.

The end of this book ended in the middle of a big scene (something else which was off and pulled me away from enjoying this. This does tends to happen in indie books but usually it's said ahead of time that it's a part 1 of a story. This one wasn't so much a cliffhanger as it was pausing in the middle of the climax of the story and then writing, to be continued. Like if it was a serial in a newspaper or Part 1 of a 2 part TV finale.) so I picked up the second one right after (free on kindle unlimited) I made it maybe another 10% and my interest waned a bit. When they got to the part where <spoiler> (highlight to see) she was unleashed and turning into a werewolf <spoiler> the lack of information, confusing and total 160 in the Female MC's personality, the sudden reveal which was never even hinted at, etc, really turned me off from continuing further and wanting to keep reading this series.

I feel it's not a bad series, there is elements I liked and there is a lot of potential in the book but for me I couldn't connect to it. As I say in all my reviews this is a personal opinion and we all read book differently. So it might work for you. I just felt it was lacking information and a structure I could get behind.

Until next time,

Maya Lemaire