Book Reviews

Book Blurb

They’re mates. They’re in love. So why does it feel like they’re falling apart?

Ever since finding out they were mates five years ago, Christian and Dave have been inseparable. They’re different from one another, sure—kind of like sandpaper and silk—but love smooths out the edges.

But now they’re in a strange town, away from their pack, investigating a decades-old murder for their alpha. And without their usual routine to distract them, those tiny differences are beginning to feel more like rifts they can’t quite bridge.

Christian loves his mate, fiercely and absolutely, but he’s allergic to talking. And Dave, always the one smoothing down the feathers that Christian’s antagonism ruffles, wants nothing more than for Christian to open up. To tell him how he feels instead of having to guess. But he can’t ask—asking for more drives people away. It always has.

Meanwhile, their murder investigation is going nowhere fast, Christian’s thrown himself into the local pack’s fight ring, and the pack is circling, looking for weaknesses to exploit.

If they can finally say the things that matter, they might walk out of this town with a closeness they never knew they’d been missing. If not… they may not walk out at all.

Each book in the Strength of the Pack series is a standalone romance with its own HEA. An overarching plot runs through the series.
Content note: This series includes material that some readers may find upsetting. Full details are available on the author’s website (link in the Look Inside sample).

First edition published at Siren Publishing, July 2014. This new edition has been substantially rewritten and expanded with major new content.

Book Review

In this fifth volume of a series that absolutely needs to be read in sequence,  the revelations about the mysterious Argents continue. They are powerful shifter royalty who vanished from existence thirteen years ago, with Jesse, from book one, the only survivor.  Christian and Dave are sent to the Argents’ last know location, and I was very excited to find out that Christian is one of the main characters of this installment. He has been an enigma so far, tense and withdrawn beyond words, and always angry to the point of being aggressive. I couldn’t wait to find out more about his story, and the author’s revelations in this story had me fascinated.

Christian is one of those men who are perpetually coiled with tension. I was never sure if it was anger or aggression, disappointment with the world or plain superiority for some reason, and as this story reveals, it was all of those and a few more on top. Christian is a very complex guy, and while his past and the need to survive extremely abusive parents partly explain why he is the way he is, they are by no means what makes him uniquely Christian. His will to survive and to never show weakness again had a lot to do with how and why he survived. And even now that he has discovered Dave is his mate, Christian doesn’t really change – which makes things very difficult for Dave and, as a consequence, Christian has to make a decision about who he wants to be now, rather than who he might be if his past determined who he is. I do not envy him the decision he has to make, and can only admire the strength he shows in choosing the path he ends up taking. Bravo!

Dave is such a laid-back guy, he seems to be the perfect balancing factor for Christian’s sometimes volatile temper. What isn’t so obvious until this story unfolds is how hard-fought this equanimity is for Dave, and what it costs him to always be the one who gives in. At least, that is how he has begun to see it, and it puts his whole relationship in a questionable light. The thing is, he and Christian are mates, and he does love the man, but he has to find a way to deal with his own issues, his insecurities, and the mounting need he has to hear words from Christian the man may never be able to utter. Circumstances work in his favor though, and when things come to a head, he not only knows what he needs to do but actually wants to do it.

If you like shifter stories with men who may be mates but their different characters make it tough for them to stick together, if you want to read about a mysterious past and the men who try to find traces of what has happened, and if you’re looking for a read that is exciting, suspenseful, and deeply emotional as the main characters battle it out, then you will probably like this novella. Personally, I definitely hope there will be another installment.

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. The first edition of this book was provided by the publisher for the purpose of a review.

Additional Information

Format	ebook
Length	Novel, 249 pages
Heat Level
Publication Date	26-February-2026
Price	$4.99 ebook, $12.99 paperback
Buy Link	https://www.amazon.com/Riding-Whirlwind-Paranormal-romance-Strength-ebook/dp/B0GDMDPRDQ