Review of ‘Blood of the Pack’ by Jenny Frame
3.75 Stars. This book 2 of ‘Wolfgang County’ series was better than book 1 and on about the same level of novella 1.5. After enjoying the novella I was happy to see that Frame kept up the quality for this book too. This was not without its problems but it was an entertaining lesbian paranormal romance book. I guess technically you could read this without reading book one and novella 1.5, but I would suggest starting at the beginning. There are a ton of recurring characters including villains from book one, that might be too confusing to keep straight if you start at this book.
In this book, we are introduced to Ricky, a soon to be Alpha from Scotland visiting her American family members in the Wolfgang pack. And Zaria, who is from the Lupa pack, and sworn enemies of the American pack. Ricky can’t help but want to protect Zaria but is Zaria hiding secrets that could put the pack in danger?
While I thought the whole book was entertaining, the second half really picked up for me. Frame took us to Scotland to meet the Wulver pack. While these were still more werewolves, they had differences from the American pack and were much more interesting to read about. Frame actually gave them a small history and the pack felt more tangible instead of just existing like the American pack. There was also a likable mate-less wolf named Rhuri and her charge Milo who is half-were/half-witch, who are just screaming to star in Frame’s next book.
What I did not like were the villains. They were the same villains from the first book and I hated them in that read. These villains are bad because they are bad. Their favorite thing to do is to kidnap someone, then get their own ass kicked, rinse and repeat. I just need more. The best part about paranormal books is that authors can use their imagination. With magic and supernatural beings, there is so much out there that can happen, and I feel that Frame is just letting big opportunities go to waste. I need the villains to have some story to them and I need some excitement, not one repeating an action. This feels like to me Frame wants to write about werewolves falling in love. Fine, but then this should be a romance with paranormal elements and not a paranormal-romance with villains.
This series just cannot hold up to Gill McKnight’s ‘Garoul’ series or Radclyffe’s (LL Raand) ‘Midnight Hunters‘ series. It just doesn’t have that body and imagination, but they are still entertaining. Frame’s books are more for the characters and romance/relationships than the other paranormal aspects. I’m expecting the next book to star the werewolf Rhuri and if it does I will be reading it.
An ARC was given to me for an honest review.
