Book Review: The Alpha’s Mate

The Official Blurb

“In The Alpha’s Woman, Kira Radney is all delicous curves and strong will and has no desire to be a subservient mate. When a member of her father’s pack attempts to make her his mate by force, Kira has no choice but to flee. The lat thing she wants is to submit to any male and his pack. But when her escape attempt leads her straight into the arms of an alpha wolf — a sexy, dangerous, protective alpha — Kira must fight against her need to be free, and her secret desire to be controlled.”

Spoiler Alerts & Trigger Warnings: sexual assault, assault

My book for Season 2 Bonus Episode: Full Moon Friday, is The Alpha’s Mate by A. C. Arthur. Published in 2015, it’s part of a collection of three werewolf-themed stories titled Growl.

I scored this book at 2^nd and Charles, a HUGE secondhand book store in Fayetteville, North Carolina. My husband and I were making a quick trip down to South Carolina to see my high school bestie, Bran, and I ended up starting the book during the car ride. I finished this book in one afternoon. It’s a super quick read and I was like a deer caught in headlights. I couldn’t put it down cause I didn’t know what kind of wildness was gonna happen next!

Let’s Talk About the Author

A. C. Arthur has a paralegal background and loves writing romance novels. She writes contemporary and paranormal romances and writes under her own name as well as a pen name, Lacey Baker. Two of her books written under her pen name have been turned into Hallmark movies, A Gingerbread Romance and Christmas in Evergreen: Bells Are Ringing.

I find it incredibly intriguing that Arthur is able to write in two very different styles. The Alpha’s Mate was very steamy but I definitely don’t consider Hallmark movies to hit that level of spiciness. I’m definitely interested in reading something of hers under the Baker pen name.

My Spiciness Ranking

This novel is a delightful and spicy werewolf romp set in contemporary times. And it is steamy from the start! I would definitely put The Alpha’s Mate into the soft erotica genre. So this book easily comes in with a habanero ranking on our Spicy Scoville Scale. Intimate scenes include masturbation, light bondage and more.

The Main Characters

Kira Radney, our heroine, is an alpha female werewolf from a group of werewolves known as Hunters. She’s a recent college grad and very intelligent. Her mother has raised her to be a leader of a pack.

Blaez, our hero, is an alpha male werewolf descended from the original werewolves and part of a group of Lycans known as The Devoted. He’s retired military but still does some black ops type stuff on the side. He has his own small pack in the northwest mountains area.

The Storyline

Kira is essentially the heir to her pack. Her mother has taught her to be an alpha female so she can partner with an alpha male and lead the pack. But her mother was recently killed and her father suddenly is trying to pawn her off on a beta male. He even lets her get physically assaulted by some of the pack members and, later, one of them tries to rape her. She fights back and escapes and has decided she wants nothing to do with her pack and she’s going to be a lone wolf until she can find some of her mother’s family out in the Midwest.

Before she can get there, though, she runs into Blaez who finds her on his pack’s lands. Apparently, there’s this thing with werewolves where they all get really horny the closer it gets to a full moon and we’re getting to that point. And Blaez is concerned she’ll be attacked, raped and claimed by a werewolf she may not want to have anything to do with.

He and members of his pack are also concerned she’s a Hunter because the Hunters and Devoteds are longtime enemies. They question whether she may be a spy and is setting them up for an attack by her pack. She explains what happened to her and that she’s not spying or trying to set them up. Some of the pack members don’t believe her or trust her initially but Blaez does and he and his pack look into her story.

They discover her mother was actually murdered and eventually figure out who murdered her and why. They also discover that Kira is special and has a sort of magical destiny that her mother knew about. And it’s going to culminate at the first full moon after her 21^st birthday.

From the start, there’s an intense physical attraction between Kira and Blaez and they have a variety of interactions that get increasingly steamier as the story goes on. Given that this is a story about werewolves and how well the author, AC Arthur, explains the animalistic tendencies and urges, it makes sense and fits the story. So I didn’t mind the spiciness and it does, definitely, get pretty steamy. Which is why I give a habanero ranking. There’s a little light bondage at one point but it’s not in a dangerous or aggressive way.

They do experience some relationship hurdles along the way. And there is a confrontation at the end of the book and we learn some surprises about a couple of the key characters but I don’t want to spoil it. So I’ll stop there.

What I Enjoyed About the Book

The werewolves. This was a refreshing change of pace for my podcast reading and the pacing itself was really good. It actually had a plot amidst the steamy sex scenes. I love that Kira is noted as being “a healthy size 16.” Even though that’s not the preferred norm in her pack and her father and pack members are nasty to her about it, Blaez and his pack help her feel beautiful and appreciate her for who she is. And Blaez helps give her confidence in her body and mind. Also, even though there’s a lot of talk of alphas, I never felt like Blaez was being abusively dominant or anything like that.

This was my first werewolf smut read and, honestly, my expectations were not super high for it. And, to be clear, this isn’t probably award-winning smut. But I absolutely appreciated it for the fun, werewolf romance and soft erotica that it is and it was a fast read. It did not disappoint.

What Challenged Me About the Book

My ONLY challenge was during the final sex scene of the book. It was, frankly, confusing and I couldn’t tell if they were having anal sex or not. It’s not my cup of tea but I don’t kink shame. I just honestly couldn’t figure out if that’s what was happening or not with the way it was written.

Final Thoughts

This was a fun werewolf romp to read for our podcast bonus episode. And I’d definitely like to check out the author’s Hallmark works to compare and contrast her writing styles between the two genres she writes in. If you’re into werewolves, soft erotica, or paranormal romance, this is a solid read with great pacing.

If you want to hear more of my thoughts on the book, you can listen to the podcast episode on your favorite podcast streaming service. Or click here for a direct link to the episode. I share some fun anatomy references as well as my Romantic Reminder. You can also find out if I won the episode Boobie Prize. Want to read the book for yourself? You can get it here.

Have you read The Alpha’s Mate? Let me know your thoughts on this book in the comments!