The Tyrant Alpha's Rejected Mate by Cate C. Wells

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After bingeing through a lot of contemporary romance at the end of February, I needed a change of pace. Since I was able to fully mood read, I decided to pick up The Tyrant Alpha's Rejected Mate by Cate C Wells. This is the first book in her Five Packs series (and the second book comes out in April). I used this for the prompt "the" in the title for Love Has Sprung.

After werewolf Una was injured as a young child, she has been relegated to the edge of the pack. Her injuries were so severe that her wolf magic couldn't properly heal her all the way. Even though she's in her mid-twenties, she still has not been able to shift into her wolf despite sensing her. When she suddenly enters heat and ends up shifting for the first time, it's due to the fact that she has suddenly recognized Killian, the alpha, as her mate. When he rejects her in front of the whole pack, Una ends up asking the witch of the pack to remove the mate bond. When Killian starts to experience and feel the mating pull himself, he has to go about setting things right with Una and fixing the way things are done in the pack.

Oh my gosh, I went into this book pretty blind. I knew the basic trope thanks to the title and was so on board. While the basic ideas of werewolves and packs are similar to the genre, there was a lot of different twists and takes on the tropes and setting that kept it feeling new and fresh. I honestly wasn't sure where the story was going a couple of times because I was so entranced and transported. I absolutely loved Killian's mate and really enjoyed how the dynamic between him and his wolf and Una and her wolf were so different. I found it so interesting that there wasn't one cohesive way to interact with your wolf and that there were different teachings. I don't know, it just was so interesting.

I do have to say, Killian's grovel is so good. The way he just constantly is there for Una and trying to build the mating bond back between them. It was so much fun and really sweet. I also loved that we got to see beneath his cold persona and how he felt he needed to perpetuate that personality to keep the pack in line. There's conflict with the way the old-timers ran the pack and moving into a more modern society. I just really, really enjoyed this a lot. I also do want to mention that this did feel a lot more grittier than the paranormals I've been reading lately, but I wouldn't really say it's dark. Just more of the grittier vibes.

If you are looking for a paranormal and/or werewolf book that feels different, definitely check this out. When I first picked up this book, it wasn't marked as being part of a series on goodreads. When I got to the end though there was an author note that book 2 was coming soon in the Five Packs series. Since it's been a bit since this came out, The Heir Apparent's Rejected Mate comes out soon on April 22nd! I really enjoyed Cate's writing once again and will definitely be looking into more of her backlist moving forward.

Have you read The Tyrant Alpha's Rejected Mate?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: The Tyrant Alpha's Rejected Mate, Cate C. Wells, 5-stars, 1 day, eBook, 320 pages, published in 2021, indie published

Run Posy Run by Cate C. Wells

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The first book I read for the Dark Romance Readathon was Run Posy Run by Cate C. Wells. I had originally heard about this book from Jen (The Book Refuge) and was intrigued. This was able to hit the scavenger hunt prompts I'll Burn the World Down and That's Wasn't an Enthusiastic Yes. I was also able to apply this to the stand alone prompt for the Summer of Swoon board 2.

Posy is dating Dario and is getting ready for him to propose. She comes home one day after shopping and gets led into his office. He has received a video of her having sex with someone else, her high school boyfriend. The video has been doctored to more currant date. Dario ends up forcing Posy to leave. His driver/2nd hand man drops Posy off at a hotel and recommends she runs. While Dario just wants her to leave, the  head of the mafia isn't going to like "loose ends" running around. She takes off while being both angry at Dario and the situation and also broken-hearted.

I really enjoyed this. I feel like had I been in a different mood, it would be a 5-star. If you've been reading my reviews the past little bit, I've been a bit slumpy and trying to beat back finding myself in a full-blown slump. I was super excited for the readathon and had some good ideas, but I just wasn't in the mood for dark romance. This was still really written well. I also loved the conversations had about sociopaths versus psychopaths. 

I also loved how they both Posy and Dario catalogued and really inspected and tried to understand their feelings. It was really interesting and eye-opening about how much Posy put up with because she wanted to be and be in love so much. She didn't really share her true feelings on things and it became self-destructive. After the break-up and she gets not only her eyes open on her own emotions, but also that Dario is not normal emotionally. I feel like there are a lot of mafia romances where they are called psychopaths or sociopaths, but they're more just crazy criminals. It was really cool to see how a relationship would work with someone with that kind of social disorder. I liked how they both grew and learned about each other. I also really enjoyed that their big connection was board games and more specifically chess. While Dario doesn't really think or believe he can love, he tells Posy that she's the one. When she questions it, he mentions how he almost sees everyone as pieces on the chess board, but Posy is the one on the other side of the board. It just made my board game loving heart so happy and was such a touching statement.

I definitely want to reread this when I'm in the mood for dark romance to see how I'll feel about it then. As I was writing this review I'm kind of thinking of changing it to 5-stars since I'm talking about the things I loved about it. I think I'll leave it 4 for now though and add this to my reread tbr. I'm super intrigued by Cate C. Wells's writing style and will definitely check out her other books. It's always fun to find another new author!

Have you read Run Posy Run?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Run Posy Run, Cate C. Wells, 4-stars, 0 days, eBook, 260 pages, published in 2021