wolves – GoodeyReads

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Dark Fantasy Romance
Length: 650 pages
Author: Sable Sorensen
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: February 26th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Only the worthy survive the Bonding Trials. She’ll risk her life—and her heart—to be one of them…

Meryn Cooper has never dreamed of being one of the Bonded, the King’s elite warriors who form mental links with massive, vicious direwolves. She’s made peace with her life scraping by in poverty in the shadows of the castle. But then her younger sister Saela is kidnapped, stolen across the border by the immortal monsters her country has spent centuries fighting.

And Meryn’s world falls apart.

Desperate to cross the front and save her sister, Meryn enlists in the army—only to discover that there are Bonding Trials this year, where all soldiers are forced to risk their lives in an attempt to connect with a direwolf. It’s too late to turn back; Meryn is thrown into the deadly competition against her will.

Now, she’ll need to survive the next four months of training at the castle if she wants a chance of finding Saela. Everything here is a test, from the brutal classes where one mistake means death, to the glittering court parties where every smile hides a knife.

To make things worse, Meryn is bound to a feral direwolf who refuses to communicate. The other trainees would love to spill her common blood. And her gorgeous instructor, Stark Therion, is as malicious as the wolves himself.

Everyone is out to get her—everyone but the dangerously handsome crown prince, Killian Valtiere. But if she loses her heart to him, she may also lose her life.

And the castle is hiding dark secrets…

Fourth Wing meets The Hunger Games in dark action-packed fantasy series, perfect for romantasy fans of A Court of Thorns and Roses , The Serpent & the Wings of Night , When the Moon Hatched and Quicksilver!

GIMME BOOK TWO.

A friend asked me to buddy read this one with her and we both devoured it over the course of a weekend. It was pitched as a fourth wing but with wolves and I gotta say, that actually tracks (but it is not a copycat, do not fear). I loved that this wasn’t a shifter book, the humans bond with wolves in this military-esque fantasy romance that had me locked in.

I love a complicated romantic plot line. I love enjoying the journey of tiny moments and quiet moments, the angry proclamations and the jaw dropping reveals. I got it all here. If you’re reading this without reading the summary, skip it and just go read it!! Trust me!!

Even more surprising was the fact that I was blindsided by a few of the reveals (a few I could see coming, but wasn’t mad about). ANYWAYS, I loved all the twists and turns. There’s a good level of politicking mixed in with action and there’s a ball??? I mean come on, I had to read this book.

The ending left me without breath and begging for the next book. AHHHHHH.

Overall audience notes:

Fantasy Romance
Language: strong
Romance: 4-5 open door
Violence: very high
Content warnings: high levels of blood/gore/violence, kidnapped children, loss of loved ones, murder

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Audience: Fantasy, magical realism
Length: 368 pages
Author: Ruth Emmie Lang
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Release Date: December 4th, 2018
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Through the story of Weylyn Grey, an orphaned boy who grew up with wolves, Lang weaves a mystical tale about life, love, and the ability each of us has to change our own story.

Finding magic in the ordinary…

The day that Weylyn is born is the largest snowstorm the South has ever seen. As he grows older, so does the legends of Weylyn Grey, his horned-pig Merlin and their magical abilities. But the true magic is in the way that he transforms the lives of those around him. As anyone who’s met Weylyn will tell you, once he wanders into your life, you’ll wish he’d never leave.

Told from the perspectives of the people who knew him, loved him, and even a few who thought he was just plain weird. Although he doesn’t stay in any of their lives for long, he leaves each of them with a story to tell. Stories about a boy who lives with wolves, great storms that evaporate into thin air, fireflies that make phosphorescent honey, and a house filled with spider webs and the strange man who inhabits it.

There is one story, however, that Weylyn wishes he could change: his own. But first he has to muster enough courage to knock on Mary’s front door.

Ruth Emmie Lang’s Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance teaches us about adventure and love in a beautifully written story full of nature and wonder.

SUCH AN ADVENTURE OF WONDER.

I picked this up on a Target run when I wasn’t supposed to be buying books…whoops!

But y’all, seriously, this was amazing and I’m so glad I grabbed it. It gave me all the feels and brought out such a sense of adventure and longing for a place in the world.

Weylen Grey has MY HEART. Oh, but he also made me so mad. This poor lost boy had me saying, bless your heart, more than once. I thought he was so fascinating and captivating. I thought it was even more imaginative that the author wrote the book from everyone else’s perspective. THIS WAS SO COOL. I felt thoroughly connected to him even in this format. Weylen had to go through a lot to realize what he had already. He truly went on a journey that captivated me.

Miss Mary quite contrary was precious too. I loved watching their story develop from kids in the woods to adults who had made some tough choices. Their reunion scene at the end had me melting. Frustrated that it took so dang long, but melting at the pure love they shared.

I thought the flow was fantastic and jumped back and forth at the right times. The pace was steady and seriously kept me flipping pages. I needed to know what happened next.

All of the other perspectives were unique too. These people had a profound effect on Weylen’s life; whether it was obvious or not. I liked getting to know them through their perspectives as well. Each had a unique voice that only further added to the wonder of Weylen Grey.

Overall audience notes:

Urban fantasy, magical realism (there were in real life places, but there was a dose of magic)
Language: very little
Romance: a kiss, some hugs
Violence: animal attacks, guns