I wondered if Mary Calmes could give me a werewolf romance that redefines the subgenre for me.

Yep.

Like all established authors, she's easily identifiable by her word choices and prose habits and common character traits/morals/speech patterns. If you dislike any of her work, you won't like this one. I don't care that her dialog tag words are both uncommon and overused, because I happen to like the kinds of characters she writes.

The way she's structured this werewolf/humans world, in current but alternate-history time, in Chicago specifically, speaks to injustices we can observe right now and which were worse in earlier decades in US/European and some other cultures in the real world. I mention this because I saw a few other reviewers hated it, and that made me shake my head. Writers get to choose their worldbuilding elements. You get to react as you do. I get to SMH, because, as a writer, I see what she's doing, and I appreciate how it's changed to all genders in this supernatural world, yet with the ugly parts on full display.

Anyway. I enjoyed 98% of this story. It's a little gooey, and there's some unnecessary repetition. The police work is a bit cursory. I nearly got lost in the multitude of names while they sorted through storylines and suspects. Ultimately, minor things as this centers the romance. Which is the point of a Romance.

I'll be reading this series. ( )

It's a romance... a wolf romance. Something a bit different than what Mary Calmes usually writes. Sure, she does cops, and she does romance but these are a wolf cop, a high-ranking wolf, who is the wolf cops' true mate, and a human cop along with a lot more than "puppy love". The author has structured this perfect, almost believable, wolf and human world. I have loved Mary Calmes ever since I read "Frog" about 8 years ago. You always know what you are going to get with her...a story with wonderful characters, a lot of excitement and with almost more love than the pages can barely contain. In a nutshell, Graeme is an extremely high-ranking alpha who would love to meet his mate but has more or less given up, thinking it’s not going to happen. At a gathering held where alpha’s have gone to find omegas to bond with thus finding their life mate. This is where he first encounters Avery. and knows immediately that Avery is his true mate. Avery was born a lower ranking in the wolf world, but his mother raised him as an Omega like his sister and two brothers. His loving parents made sure that he was strong, resourceful and independent. He’s a police detective and loves his job so when he meets Graeme he’s unsure what to do...but he knows that he was born to be with him. He really wants to see him again, but he has no intentions of giving up his job and independence. Their delightful romance was interspersed with a murder mystery that had to be solved before Graeme can begin to plan the life he wants and needs with his mate. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, like all of Mary Calmes books, A very well written shifter romance with a dash of mystery and a wolf Shaifer that actually owns a cat. I bet just like fully humans...the cat owned him:) ( )

Listened to it as an audio book. Narration was great, but the book itself was very hard to finish. It couldn't hold my attention and I often found myself zoning out while listening. It was just missing something. ( )