"Cry Wolf," by Charlie Adhara
Paranormal MM Romance
1 Smooch ~ Cozy
2 Smooches ~ Warm
3 Smooches ~ Simmering
4 Smooches ~ Red-Hot
5 Smooches ~ Scalding
Book Blurb
Agent Cooper Dayton never thought anything could be harder than solving murders. Until he had to plan a wedding.
After taking down an old adversary, Agent Cooper Dayton of the Bureau of Special Investigations has earned a break. Not that planning a wedding to his sexy shifter partner, Oliver Park, is necessarily stress free, but it’s better than worrying about the ominous warning, delivered months ago, that Cooper’s life is in danger.
When he’s dragged to an event by his family, Cooper braces for an awkward evening, but instead finds himself in the middle of an ugly feud between Park’s ex and a rebel pack leader. What was supposed to be a quick outing turns into a full-blown murder investigation after the pack leader ends up dead, Park’s ex goes missing, and Cooper and Park are sent a series of disturbing wedding gifts that are somehow connected to it all.
The list of potential suspects is long, and with the bodies piling up, Cooper must turn to the one person he trusts the least: the villain he’s already put behind bars once and who has nothing to lose by lying and everything to gain if Cooper is out of the picture—for good.
My Review
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an advanced copy of this book. I am providing a voluntary review. All thoughts and views are my own.
The ending of the Big Bad Wolf series by Charlie Adhara pretty much defines bittersweet for me. I’ve followed it from the beginning and have eagerly awaited the release of every single book. I absolutely adore Adhara’s voice and her fresh, unique take on werewolves—a theme I don’t usually gravitate toward.
If you’re at all like me and find yourself a tad squicked out by the way some shifter romances are handled, then I can tell you right now… Adhara’s delightful take on the subject is handled quite beautifully. While there is some delicious heat in the series, none of it involves anything that could be mistaken for beastiality—that is, all sexually-based scenes are between a human and his shifter partner’s human form.
Now that that’s out of the way… let’s talk Coop. I’m not one to typically be a fan of single POV in my romance. I like to get the story from both sides as each character experiences the ups and downs of falling in love and maneuvers the pitfalls and highlights of being in a relationship. However, while this entire series is told strictly from Cooper Dayton’s POV, I rarely found myself upset by the lack of his partner Oliver’s POV. Perhaps it’s because Oliver is the shifter, and I’ve already mentioned my hesitancy in that department, but I honestly think it has everything to do with the fact that Coop is such a brilliant protagonist. He draws you in and tells the story going on around him with such heart.
Not only that, but watching Coop grow and change over the books has been a thing of beauty. I think Adhara should consider giving lessons on how to handle character growth and development because Coop is the poster child. His arc is so satisfying, and yet I was still left with this feeling of wanting more. So much more. I know this is the final book in the series, but it ends with questions and doesn’t feel like a true HEA. It feels a bit more like an HFN. Normally, that would irritate me as a reader, but in this case, it seems rather fitting. After following the same MCs for five books, they feel far more fleshed out and real than even the best-written characters can be after only a book or two or three. Therefore, it makes sense to believe their lives will go on after this series ends. At no point in any of our lives do we have a bow tied on all areas of our existence. There are always questions looming and uncertainties to tackle. By ending this series with such realism, it further makes the whole thing feel exactly that—real.
I would recommend this book—and in fact, this entire series—to just about anyone. Even if “shifters” aren’t your thing, I can almost guarantee you’ll love these books. And the romance between Coop and Oliver is so sweet and yet so very, very genuine. After all, we get to see their relationship develop over five books. 💞🌈
Charlie Adhara
she/her
Charlie Adhara writes contemporary, mystery, paranormal, queer romance. Or some assortment of that. Whatever the genre, her stories feature imperfect people stumbling around, tripping over trouble and falling in love. Charlie has done a fair amount of stumbling around herself but tends to find her way back to the northeast U.S. After all, home is where the dog is.
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So, what are you waiting for? Cry Wolf is available for your reading pleasure on or after its release date, January 18th, 2021! Get your copy today!! 📖
