Uuuuh... Okay, what did I just read...

Blood of the Pack was a very strange read, not because I didn't read the first book or the novella. I could catch up to that just fine, because the characters mostly tell the story of what happened anyways. It was strange in the sense that I never knew whether someone was female or male. A lot of females had male names which was very confusing.

What also confuses the heck out of me is the sex scenes. It seems these females have a dick but I'm pretty sure the whole point of being called a female is not having one (I'm pretty sure they weren't transgender but just lesbians) so yeah the sex was very weird. Also the whole female-female having kids, kinda not possible you know... It's never explained how that works which is totally weird and makes it hard to understand the book.

The writing style is easy and short sentences. Scenes are short and to the point. I wasn't annoyed by the writing style, but I also didn't like it. Scenes where they're in trouble are too fast paced. Problems are too easily solved.

I'm a mayor wolf lover and have always been a great fan of werewolf books. But most books portray werewolves very strangely. I hate it when authors don't seem to know how wolves work. I don't know everything either, but if an amateur can notice that something isn't quite right then the author should have put more time into researching wolf behavior.

Terms that were used in this book were throwing me off and made sentences didn't flow right. There were several typos in the book which is a pity. The Scottish accent was very forced and didn't sound natural at all.

I read this book in one day but I skimmed over some boring paragraphs and just read quickly so I could finish this and pick up another book. This book gets two stars from me and shall not be recommending this to anyone.

I enjoyed some aspects of this story but there were things that I found distracting. Kenrick leaves her Scottish home and the Wulvers to join Dante and the Wolfgang pack to prepare for her impending ascendence as Alpha of the Wulvers. On the day of her arrival in America, Kenrick and the Wolgang pack come across a wolf shifter from the Lupa pack. She is seriously injured and although she’s from the sworn enemy of the Wolfgangs, they take her to the hosital. Zaria Lupa has been on the run for a long time but she’s reluctant to leave the edges of Wolfgang territory.

One of the standouts for me is that the women are diverse in the way they look. What does distract me though, is that Frame often gives her butch characters very masculine names. I struggle to keep the image of a woman in my head when the name is so traditionally masculine. I think I’ve been phenomenally well-indoctrinated to view many names as exclusively male and it doesn’t help that I know males with the characters’ names.

Other than the naming thing, this was fun to read. The story has a good pace and the action scenes are exciting. It was also nice to read a storyline that veered off the beaten formula path in terms of the development of the mains’ relationship.

Book received from Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

DNF. The writing is interesting and I love werewolves but I shouldn’t have started here. It’s too confusing as a starting point and I should have gone back to book 1. Once I do that, I’ll come back to this.

I officially believe that Jenny Frame writes supernatural books better than her Royalty series.

Loved the character Ricky and how she was able to stick around and nurture Zaria. Both MCs were great, but she was my favorite.

You also get a bid of Eden and Dante, which was nice since they still don't have their own book...hint hint. I've been asking for this one from the beginning!

My favorite part of this book was that it covered a lot of area. Meaning, there are events/plot points that occur and are over quicker than I thought they would be so that the book was able to focus on the building of the main relationship. It gave it a nice mix of both action and romance.

Great series. I'm looking forward to the next one!

3.75 Stars. This 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 paranormal read. 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, than 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 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.

I want to start off by pointing out I have not read the other two books that came before this one. I wasn't aware of them before starting this book.

With that in mind, I am being a tiny bit lenient with my review as it is obvious there are parts of this book that would have meant more had I read them. That being said though, I enjoyed this book. There are a LOT of names thrown at you very quickly near the beginning. Again, I assume I would have an easier time had I read the others. That and a few questions about the background of things were the only issues I came across by starting with this one.

I love paranormal romances, especially werewolf stories. This book had a pretty rich background and very established lore which made it much easier to really get into the story. The characters, both main and secondary were interesting and I genuinely wanted to keep reading more about them.

The moments of action that happened were exciting and believable as were the sex scenes sprinkled throughout. Neither felt gratuitous or unnecessary.

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via. NetGalley for an exchange of my honest review.

Result: It was Anticlimactic.

The Good.

Blood of the Pack from Jenny Frame what can I say; when I was offered this book, I was like ok cool I get to see what the Wolfgang’s are up to. I want to say a lot about this book, but I don’t know if I have enough time or room to do so; but lucky for everyone I tend to overwrite. If I had to compare this book to something it would be akin to crack; its highly addictive but you know it’s not good for you, and that’s the same with Ms. Frames books and I don’t mean that in a good way. Now I do find the Wolfgang County Collection to be a likable series, and for all the waiting along with the opportunity to read this free copy; I have to say that it was very anticlimactic and did not do a good job at subverting my expectations.

Nevertheless, I will get on with the good of the book. It was very tightly closed in the Wolfgang chapters, even some things were explained; as I have no doubt that she listened to my rants and reviews over these past two years. It’s clear to see that Frames writing style has developed as I didn’t get the repetitive words that I’d normally get, and the sex wasn’t not nearly as gross and annoying; as it seemed that Frame had something to write about this time. I enjoyed the kids and Zaria’s interaction with them as that was a sweet spot. For me as a writer myself and a book snob of sorts, I appreciated her attempt to give an educated try; minus the few spelling errors that I found, but those I can blame on the idiot of an editor not her. Now that my positive comments are out the way; let’s get to the heart of it as there were several things I did not enjoy about this book. I’ll be mapping them out one by one so hang tight people.

The Bad

1. A Cheap Rendition of History.

This for me hurts me to say this, as I complained about her lack of Wolfgang history in her previous books Heart and Soul of the Pack. The Scota story which is a supposed event in real history in which Scotland was found, is told by Kendrick as she says that their ancestors came from Egypt; and that Scota had a female lover, and I guess some guys said that she couldn’t do it cause she’s a girl, so she huffs and puffs and gets on a sail boat and finds Scotland. Promising that the duality of the sexes would be equal in her lands, it’s the base rule in which packs run by. I found that the history lacked any imagination of its own as it was a play on alternative history, it would’ve done her good to change the Scota legend with a different name or something. What bugged me the most was the Egyptian thing despite the legend of Scota having some real-life validation with historians today; I just felt it to be a tad bit blown out of proportion as it felt kind of white-washed.
Really to me book three or two if you want to call it that, is too late to introduce a history as it could’ve been done in Heart of the Pack and Soul of the Pack; it lacked detail and originality to be honest. It was good that she drew from her culture, but a changing of names and motivations would’ve made for a good origin story. Personally, I would suggest that she do a bit more reading into other mythologies outside Scotland and use her own imagination to make her own tale. To me piggybacking from history and mythology then changing it does not tell an origin story, as it comes off as cheap and uninspiring.

2. The mention of other book Characters and the Potential labeling of Black Antagonists.

This is what annoyed me to no end although it was a quick line in the book; the mention of Byron Debrek and Witches. I really didn’t ask for Byron in the series as she was by far the most annoying character in her last book. I think most of us could agree that no one is asking for the Hunger For you series; and that the book was lackluster and downright annoying for a vampire book. Now adding to the witches plot-line really there was no need for it, but I could somewhat appreciate that she added a woman of color aka Madam Anka; but I took offense slightly as making her a potential villain is downright insulting, as too many people of color in the USA are made to be villains on the daily bases. I may be getting ahead of myself here, but as a writer and a woman of color myself I find the potential of demonizing Anka to be belligerent; for if Anka is casted as a villain, and Amelia’s character in the future Hunger For You Series is drafted as the “good white witch.” Well it may spoil my whole view of Frame as a storyteller. For now, I need to rest my suspicions and pray that Ms. Frame doesn’t demonize Anka; as I think such a move would be very predictable, uninspired, and downright ignorant. Still I can see where she is going with the witches thing, and I feel as if she’s going to use the witches to tie the vampire and werewolf series together in some strange way.

The Ugly

3. Mary-Sue’s, Plot, Conflict, and Repetitive Scenes.

What can I say about the characters and plot, that hasn’t been said about the war on Iraq; her plots and characters are bombed out, depleted, and horrifying to read about. I’m going to leave out Lena, Caden, and baby Chase because I was waiting on that. However, as for the couples in the previous books coming together in the first half; I really didn’t care about that. Now for the main characters themselves. Kendrick was decent but I found Kendrick to be a Wolf version of Quade from Wooing the Farmer; which I did finish that book and well, let’s just say I hated it. I found that there was no conflict with Kendrick when it came to her becoming alpha and Zaria being a Lupa. Kendrick and the others are all strong, dominant, noble, trusting, and good; I found it to be annoying as people run on deeper emotions, Kendrick should’ve struggled with her leadership and attraction to Zaria. For Kendrick all I read across her mind was, “Well come on in and let me love you, despite your pack killing one of my unborn family members.”

Once again, the submissive wolves like Zaria are weak and have no backbone until Ovid slaps her around, which makes no sense as Frame repeatedly says the Lupa’s are weak. Like really? Couldn’t Zaria just had taken Ovid herself since Lupa’s are so weak right? The Submissive wolves play the role of the good wife or troubled future mate in waiting; a lot of it reminded me of her other softer protagonists. Just as well, I was reminded of Lena with the I’m not worthy crap through Zaria at the end of the books, and that got on my nerves real fast. I found myself screaming at the book most of the time praying that Frame would find another emotional hang up to develop her characters, but no she didn’t. Even though Ms. Frame tries to and I loosely use this term; give these characters “depth” such as have Kendrick question her position to lead the Wulver pack, everything falls short as the reason why she doesn’t want to is because she has to wear a suit. Really a suit?

Overall the conflict within Kendrick about leading goes to shit in a short amount of time; as I didn’t buy the dead ten year old brother thing, now if her brother was older and next in line for the Alpha and then he died, then I could see her guilt. Also, it would be nice to have Frame not have a butch character gripe about suits; I mean that’s not a personality trait and I found that to be super annoying, as Frame does it in all her books. The cast were all Mary-Sue characters as they don’t use common sense and they never paid for their trusting intentions, they turn out to be the winners and good guys no matter what and it really made the book predictable.

As for the repetitive scenes and dialog. I noticed a lot of them such as finding Zaria was almost like Caden finding Lena minus the cuffs and kidnapping; along with Kendrick not letting the paramedic touch her reminded me of Ripp and the relocated wolf from the other books. That’s just to name a few, and that’s next to the “Height of all cowardice” line that seemed to almost get repeated to death; lucky she stopped when she did.

4. Cheap Villains, Power Rings, and Magic that Falls out of Everyone’s Asses.

Now to the part that annoyed the hell out of me, the fucking power ring and Lupa pack. Yes, I’m cursing because this is just wrong on so many levels, and enough is enough. It seems like Frame doesn’t seem to know the extent in which magic works as there are laws within magic, hell even the Harry Potter series has a listing of rules. It seems like there are no limitations of magic in her books and there are no costs to it at all, just give your villains a power ring and everything will be fine. Unless you’re a Mary-Sue character with plot armor so thick you need x-ray glasses just to get through to something. It’s like Frame drops people in like Milo with magic powers and expects her readers to follow it. It’s the lack of build-up, detail, and mystery that annoys me the most when it comes to her view of the paranormal world; hell even the biggest secret about Marco wasn’t handled well, there was no tension as both Zaria and Kendrick pretty much spilled their secrets easily with no long term consequences. It makes the conflict come off as sloppy as she should know better by now.

Which leads me to another problem her villains, why is it that all her villains are all poor and weak physically? Not to mention the Eastern European vs. Western European thing; now I’m from America and well-traveled and educated in a sense, but even I know an underhanded stereotype when I see one. I find that Frame is painting Eastern Europe as poor and evil; now mind you, there are darker-skinned countries of the Muslim faith along with immigrants as well in Eastern Europe. In the real-world immigrants are painted in a not so good way for they are assumed to be predatory and problematic by Western Europeans, US, and some Eastern Europeans as well. Really, I don’t need to paint out the picture here on what I think is wrong. All I know is she’s painting a political image through her characters like Ovid and Leroux, who are from Eastern European roots making them seem like immigrants of sort. Now before you jump the gun no, I’m not calling her Xenophobic just careless with her plot and how it views people; it would’ve been best not to reveal the geography of the Lupa’s and also not everyone from Eastern Europe are poor.

However, the message is clear that white Western Europe are the good guys and Eastern Europe is poor and evil for no reason; it’s uninspiring and downright lackluster when painting her villains. Like I’ve said before, she makes her antagonists evil for the sake of doing so and it’s highly exasperating and unimaginative. Frame really needs to take a careful look on what makes a villain; a well-rounded antagonist has depth and it comes from a source of pain, nonchalantly saying the Lupa’s are from Eastern Europe and that’s why their evil is not what makes a rival. Also Frame needs to power-up her adversaries as it adds a sense of tension to fights, especially if they are on equal footing. Which leads me to the fights, which are not detailed or long enough; really the whole thing reminded me of a cheap imitation of West Side Story. Lastly it was downright annoying when she had her villains kidnap almost everyone all the time, like didn’t they try this already?

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, this book was a complete let down as it was anticlimactic. A lot of things like the wolves in Scotland and the war of the races reminded me of the show Lost Girl. In my opinion the book had some shining moments, but not enough to push me to read without stopping. Personally, I don’t think of Ms. Frame as a writer as she is more of a good imitator of books, history, and television. Sure, the characters and plot are of her own making; but I can’t help but feel that she is drawing on other books that she has read in the past. This is a simple case of quality vs. quantity, as her Royal Romance Series is analogous to Neil Stark’s Royal Princess Series; also, her Wolfgang Series is akin to L.L Raand. It’s good to be inspired, but if you have inspiration and not enough passion to put more ink to the page, then it becomes a good copy of Fan Fiction at best.

Jenny Frames books are good for readers that don’t require much thought; but it’s going to be a two out of five stars for me, I know if I ran this book close to Gill McKnight’s werewolf series McKnight’s would clearly out class it. It’s a clear-cut line between quality verses quantity and as a writer myself, I could remember writing such stories like Frames when I was fourteen on Fan Fiction. Mind you, I’m twenty-eight and have two sets of supernatural series complete and ready for publishing myself. I can only hope that other readers will wake up and smell the coffee, as they are being sold the same characters and useless plots repeatedly in all her books. Frame clearly lacks the stamina to write true works of art; to say her works are good is a falsehood, as there are those who write and take years to master their craft and have great works such as Rebekah Weatherspoon, Gill McKnight, G. Benson and that’s just to name a few. With Frame she has a quantity of books, but her books are not of quality.

ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is book 2 of the Wolfgang series. I did not think much of book 1 ([book:Heart of the Pack|27217645]), but found the novella for this series ([book:Soul of the Pack|36990483]) an improvement, so figured I’d give this a shot. There’s also some references to vampires in this book that may be related to Frame’s [book:Hunger for You|36458122] but I’m not a vampire fan, so can’t say for sure.

This is a fair improvement on book 1, not least because the two MCs are way more interesting than Cade and Lena (MCs from book 1) could ever hope to be. The MCs here are Kenrick (Ricky), who is Dante’s cousin from Scotland who is about to become pack leader there and has come to Dante for tips about taking on the role, and Zaria, who is on the run from the evil Lupas and hiding a few big secrets.

Kenrick is very different from the other dominants we’ve been introduced to, in appearance and attitude, and she’s also possibly the sweetest MC featured so far. Zaria has been alone for years and had to overcome a lot, so the two together are pretty interesting.

The first part of the book is set in Wolfgang territory and therefore features the main players from the last 1.5 books, but then the setting moves to Scotland and we’re introduced to a new pack (who I much preferred). I especially liked Rhuri (Kenrick’s second) and her young niece Milo.

Kenrick and Zaria are together pretty much the entire book, so there’s plenty of interaction between them and due to the whole ‘wolf soulmate’ thing, we know right off that they’re destined for each other. There’s a few big hurdles in the way, most of which revolve around Zaria’s backstory, which also involves the Lupas (bad guys) from the first book. Thankfully, that storyline is tied up here, because I wasn’t overly impressed by either bad guy and am happy to not see them again.

I did tire of Zaira’s ‘I’m not worthy’ schtick, especially towards the end of the book, but otherwise liked her. Kenrick was by far the best character though, and I enjoyed her storyline and the stories she told quite a bit. I’m guessing Rhuri will feature in the next story should there be one, which should also see Milo featured more heavily, an added bonus.

All in all, I enjoyed the romance and I’m glad the plot has moved out of Wolfgang country and to the new pack. As I said, this is much improved over the first entry (especially in regards to the squicky crap in the sex scenes in book 1, I assume Frame read some of the feedback around those). It’s not my favourite Frame novel (or werewolf novel) but worth the read. I’d give this 3-3.5 stars, so I’m leaving it at 3.

Overall enjoyment: 2.5/5
Characterization: 2/5
Overall worldbuilding: 3/5
Diversity: 3/5

I was given a free advance copy of this book through Netgalley in return for an honest review.

I wanted desperately to like this book more than I did. Lesbian werewolves?! I was so excited. I was pumped. I became very frustrated very quickly. First, I didn’t realize that this was part of a series. My fault I didn’t do the research and so some things were confusing but may have been explained in previous books of the series. This is book three. Some confusion though was not what truly frustrated me so much as the missed potential of this book. The premise of the book and most of the major plot points were amazing ideas! I could have easily fallen in love with this book if not for the writing style. Now, that may sound petty, but listen. Every problem that arose in this book was solved in what felt like five pages or less. Any part of the book that could have been a secret or big reveal to other characters was somehow discovered through the random senses of the characters. It made me want to scream.
The characters of this book were pretty lackluster. They had potential. A female alpha paired with a woman who has been abused by alphas? There was a lot of potential for long conversation, dates, mutual respect and honest. Beautiful character development. Did we get that? Nope, we got instant feelings and wolf senses. I’m not opposed to wolf senses. That’s one of parts of werewolf stories that I enjoy, but senses were used to replace any meaningful conversation and compromises.
Worldbuilding: It seems to be set in modern times, but there was definitely an attempt to develop a history and culture. There was mention older wolf packs and battles. Kenrick had different bracelets that represented different things. I appreciated the attempt though I still felt a bit off put at time about the dominant and submissive roles. There may have been what I felt like a sexist line or two in there.
Diversity. What is story have is at least a bit of diversity. There are obviously lesbian women in this book which is refreshing for a change. There are hints that Zaria is a woman of color. There may also be a transgender character? I’m not quite sure if that’s the case or there is some added female alpha wolf anatomy happening.
Overall, if you don’t mind insta-feelings stories where the romance is mostly the focus you could enjoy this story. If you’re looking for something more in-depth with lots of fantasy action and a more slow build relationship this book is NOT for you. I wanted to like this book. I was so very excited about it, but it was just frustrating to read.

Blood of the Pack was a great read. Jenny Frame does not disappoint. The characters were likable and left me yearning for more. The characters, the plot and the amazing detail to the story is a testament to the authors writing. I just couldn't put it down. I also got excited at the mention of the Debrek vampires. I utterly loved that series and hope for more of them in the future as well. I highly recommend Blood of the Pack.

I loved this book and the series as well. I am a huge supernatural fan and I loved that she brought characters from her vampire series into this book as I am really excited to see where these two series are going to go. The dialogue is crisp and natural which is always a trait this author brings. It makes the characters feel more real to me. Buy this book and you won’t be disappointed.

Jenny Frame is one of my favorite author's and I think I have read most if not all of her published books. This is technically the 2nd book in the Wolfgang series; however, there are mentions of the Debrak vampire series in here as well. Its not necessary to have read Dapper or Hunger for You but I feel like one will eventually need to as the they all take place in the same world.

Anyway, the story does start off in Wolfgang County. And it's a very satisfying story there as certain things are resolved that were not in the first book. We also get a nice update on the other couples. I wanna say this takes place about 8/9 months after the novella Soul of the Pack. The two MCs are great for the first part of the book you could really feel all of Zaria's emotions and how much Ricky wants to be there for her.

The second part of the book takes the two back to Scotland. This part drags a bit as new characters and settings needed to be described (It was almost like reading two books in one). The Wulfers are more traditional than the Wolfgang and it was interesting to be introduced to them. I will say the story is a complete one. There is no real cliffhanger but there are avenues that can be taken. It should be interesting to see what happens in future additions to this world. Easily a 4.75 for me.

***ARC from Netgalley for an honest review from me :) ***

This was a very fun read. I love reading paranormal topics, and this book was a delight. I loved the description of Kenrick, the author presented her as a very unusual, completely non-mainstream Alpha to be. I loved that a lot. And her protectiveness over Zaria, without being possessive in an over the top way.

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.

Enjoyable read.

It's a two part of story you might say.

First is we meet Zaria who on the run from her pack the Lupa who aren't the greatest wolves we don't know how long she was on the run her and her sister Marta ran when Marta learn their suppose Alpha Leroux promise her second in command Ovid her sister and even though Marta couldn't stand up for herself she wasn't going to let Zaria get hurt more then she already was. Leroux beaten Marta so badly that she died of her injuries not before she gave birth to a little boy and made Zaria promise to take him to the Wolfgang County for protection.

Kenrick who everyone calls Ricky comes to visit the Wolfgang County to learn the ropes from her cousin Dante who is the Alpha of the Wolfgang pack as Kenrick is preparing to become Alpha of her pack Scottish Wulver all she wants is to find a mate to share it.

Ricky and Dante come upon Zaria after the Lupa found her she escape from them but she was seriously injury Ricky feels connection to Zaria that she never felt before and she realize she found her mate but it takes a lot of care and kindness to get Zaria to see that not all dominant wolves are horrible. We learn that Dante have score to settle with Leroux because she attack her mate Eden and her pack once they destroy Lupa pack Zaria feels she finally free.

The second part of the story is Kenrick asking Zaria to come to Scotland with her to show her life and this is where we meet Kenrick family and this is where Ricky hopes Zaria can start a new life with her. I like the love story between them and how Ricky shown respect and let Zaria come to her. I like all the characters and how they were welcoming to Zaria.That Ovid character was sick and obsess with Zaria that I'm happy she got what she deserve.

I hope in the next book we get see Rhuri find her mate and learn more about family.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 STARS for book #2 of Jenny Frame’s Wolfgang County Series.

Book #1 is Heart of the Pack that introduces us to the Wolfgang pack of werewolves. The pack is based in Wolfgang County, Utah and they own and operate a successful meat and distribution company, run by their Alpha, Dante. This book centers on the second in command, Caden and his new human accountant, Selena. It also introduces the rival Lupa pack. This pack and its leader, Leroux is determined to overthrow the Wolfgang pack and take over their lands and company. There is also a novella (Book #1.5 Soul of the Pack). It is best that you read the previous books first as this is a continuation.

Blood of the Pack, Book #2, welcomes Kenrick (Ricky) who is about to become the new Alpha of the Scottish Wulver pack. Her father is retiring and Kenrick is sent to Dante Wolfgang to learn her company’s methods. Ricky wants to implement modernizing their company which produces top quality Scotch Whiskey and bottled water. The two packs are “cousins”. Many generations ago they split off, some staying in Scotland/UK and others going to America. They still share many of their traditions and beliefs. The Lupa pack are descendants from the Eastern European Wolf families.

The second MC is Zaria. She is a submissive wolf in the Lupa pack. In Frame’s world the packs are made of larger dominant and smaller submissive wolves. In the Wolfgang and Wulver packs, the dominants protect and provide for their family, while the submissives raise their cubs and run the household. It is a loving relationship and partnership. The Lupa pack however, it is an abusive relationship. And Zaria has seen and experienced the worst. Her older sister was the “wife” of the leader and Zaria witnessed Leroux mistreat her sister. When Zaria was only 16 she was promised to Leroux’s second in command, Ovid. The two sisters escape. Years later (I don’t remember exactly how long) Zaria is captured by Leroux’s henchmen. She escapes by jumping out of the car and rolling down an embankment. As luck would have it, Kenrick and Dante were driving when they find her roadside. They remove the silver manacles on her wrists and rush her to a Wolfgang hospital to remove the silver bolt in her leg. The silver, if not removed would soon kill her. It was one of those impossible coincidences that I roll my eyes and just read on.

So this book is basically two parts. The first half the book deals with the Wolfgangs and Lupas in a final showdown and the second half is Kenrick returning to Scotland to become her clan’s alpha. She asks Zaria to come with her. We meet and learn about the Wulver pack, its leaders and the art of making whiskey. Not to mention a travel guide for the beautiful Wulver Scottish countryside. And of course, the continuing love story between Kendrick and Zaria. Because of the way Zaria was raised, she had no self-confidence but at the same time resists when she feels Kendrick is making decisions for her. We meet a large cast, including Kendrick’s parents, her second Rhuri and Rhuri’s remarkable niece Milo who is half witch. There is also a group of submissives (females and a male) who take Zaria under their wing, offering her friendship and help, of which Zaria never had before.

I enjoyed this book and as with most of Frame’s books it is very readable for me. There’s a couple of exceptions such as her Vampire series, I just couldn’t get into it. Oh, and some of her phrases she uses over and over again during the sex scenes in this book that just makes me cringe. Nevertheless, I hope there is a Book 3. I’m guessing and hoping it will be about Rhuri and her niece Milo.

I was looking forward to reading the third installment of Jenny Frame's Wolfgang County urban fantasy series, "Blood of the Pack," so obviously when it dropped on my lap, I devoured it at no time at all! As expected, I absolutely loved everything about it, most of all, when the story took it to the majestic highlands of Scotland!!! Frame had revealed about the Scotland angle where we'd be introduced to another pack, Wulver, cousins of the Wolfgang Pack, who would play an important role in the series, and she delivered and then some! YES!!!

As mentioned, "Blood of the Pack" is the third book of the series, continuing the story of the Wolfgang pack of werewolves led by Dante, the pack's Alpha and her mate, Eve, the Mater. Before I proceed with this story, I strongly recommend reading the series chronologically because there's a serialised story arc that acts as a backdrop of every installment. Although, if you're not particular about following the overall arc, then the books can be read as a standalone since every installment features a new romance between two new MCs within the Wolfgang County universe. In any case, as usual, the MCs from the previous installments made appearances in this installment, with Dante, Wolfgang's Alpha, essentially being this story's lead secondary character, as she should since she's the leader of the pack after all. If you've read the previous books, you'll also recognise their respective MCs - Caden and Lena, Kyra and Ripp, plus Eve, Dante's mate, the pack's Mater amongst a few others, as they were all part of the Wolfgang Pack linked to the overall story arc which served as a backdrop of this 3rd installment.

This book began with an intro of a new character, Kenrick (Rick), a Wulver wolf from Scotland, paying a visit to her cousin, Dante. The Wolfgangs and the Wulvers were cousins and their families had been each other's close family and ally since the beginning. Meanwhile, Dante and her Wolfgang pack were still reeling over what happened at the end of Book 2 where Dante's arch enemy, Leroux, the Lupa pack's Alpha, led her pack of Lupa wolves to a full-on attack on the Wolfgang pack with deadly consequences. So whilst Dante and her Wolfgang pack regrouped and getting ready for any eventuality when it came to Leroux and her Lupa gang, Frame introduced the reader to Zaria, a Lupa who'd been running and hiding from her pack since she was 16.

I was immediately drawn to Zaria's character and the mystery behind the desperate measures she'd been employing in her sordid life since her escape. I loved Frame's portrayal of Zaria's submissive character. She was different than the other submissive protagonists that Frame had featured in the previous installments. What fascinated me was Zaria's conditioned mindset when it came to wolf pack dynamics between dominants and submissives, how they should live, the role of the Alpha and their relationship with the rest of the pack. Because of how the Lupa pack lived under Leroux and her second-in-command, Ovid's ruthless and violent rule, Zaria led a frightfully horrendous life before she and her sister escaped. Long-term physical and emotional abuse whilst being brainwashed about the nature of dominants and submissives, how submissives existed only to serve dominants, and the scary misconception about how wolf packs lived - in poverty, hardship, subject to abuse - and forced loyalty to the Alpha and their Second. Frame's brutally honest depiction of Zaria's world of abuse and pain was utterly resonating because of its eerie relevance to our real world. One very disturbing but so very realistic subject matter which Frame portrayed with conviction was domestic abuse/assault and its lifelong emotional trauma to a person's life, character, behaviour, realistically personified by Zaria with raw authenticity. In essence, Frame created Zaria's world where Lupa's skewed teachings about the nature of dominants and submissives were an allegory to our real world of gender stereotypes, gender discrimination and inequality, false power dynamics and misogyny, hence, grounding Zaria's story with genuine realism that richly resonated as I explored her life and journey toward healing, self-worth and love. Well done, Ms. Frame!

I utterly loved Rick and Zaria's first encounter. It was like witnessing a large furry dog filled with kindness and gentleness trying to coax a broken, scared and trembling kitten out of her hiding place! I felt that tense/desperate mixed with tentative situation viscerally from Frame's emotionally gripping language. That's why I love Frame's writing because her choice of words and expressions just flows and captures your emotional psyche, effectively engaging your mindset to the scene she describes. At least that's how I feel when I read her very character-driven stories. No exception here. That's exactly how she displayed Rick and Zaria's emotional psyche, their physical reactions toward each other.

This installment was divided into two parts. The first half of the story, it was set in Wolfgang County, chronicling Zaria's journey from being hunted by her former pack ending up being taken in by Dante's pack after some harrowing experience that left her almost dead, which marked the beginning of her tentative friendship with Rick whom she had an instant affinity to but too traumatised by her violent past to even think about furthering their relationship to something deeper. I loved that Frame took the time to slowly build their relationship with each stage of development being an eye-opening change in perspective about what Zaria was conditioned to believe about dominants vs what she experienced with Rick and the other Wolfgang dominants. Frame was able to epitomise all the mental and emotional nuances of a lifelong abused survivor onto Zaria's character and her journey toward truth and reconciliation with utter aplomb. Circumstances led to Zaria being able to finally have the courage to face her inner emotions and her true feelings for Rick as she left her old life as a Lupa behind to start anew, with a possible new life with Rick in Scotland.

The second half was set in Rick's Wulver country in the Scottish highlands outside of Glasgow. Since I'm partial to the highlands of Scotland, I was chuffed to bits when Frame described the forest in the highlands and Rick's residence with vivid and visual detail. I could literally smell the air, the rain, the dewdrops and the colours described were so realistic I could see the image clearly in my mind! And the forest described was like an enchanted forest! Rick's cabin, like all the other homes of the Wulvers, were built up in the trees - like a treehouse but infinitely more majestic and breathtakingly beautiful, obvs, as visualised in vivid detail! Needless to say, I was mesmerised. I couldn't get enough of Frames' creation of the Wulver world! I wanted to be there! Speaking of the Wulvers, I was totally impressed by how Frame devised its entire history which I assumed she compiled from the recent findings about the possible DNA linkage between the Scottish and Irish Celtics and the Egyptian pharoahs! The stipulation that Scota, the daughter (princess) of the Egyptian pharoah was the mother of all Scots was utterly fascinating to me! History or mythology, either way, it made for a fan-bloody-tastic story and genesis of Frame's Wulvers! To me, just from Wulver's history alone, Frame has effectively created a solid mythology for her Wolfgang series that can only get even more spellbinding and captivating as she continues building and expanding this urban fantasy world.

Back to Zaria and Rick's story, as Rick prepared for her ascent to the next Alpha, Zaria grew more confident about herself, learning about the new culture of her newfound pack which she immediately felt a spiritual connection to the moment she landed on Wulver soil. I couldn't get enough of their slow-burn romance with each growth displaying Zaria's desire turning into openly expressed intimacy and ultimately a declaration of love which Rick had been longing to finally share with her one true love! Deeply romantic, erotically sensual, emotionally resonating. When you read the book, you'll discover just how authentic and honest Frame was in portraying Zaria slowly coming out of her shell of shame, fear, insecurity with deep psychological scars from chronic abuse and assault, to finally let go of the past and embrace the one person who lived to love, support and protect her, with all her heart, mind and soul. Her road to feeling safe, loved and cared for again, feeling equal to her one true love, being able to finally share her love through physical intimacy, was a life-changing and ultimately soul-healing one, with Rick as her beacon of love, hope and a new life. In essence, I must say, this installment truly made me FEEL deeply with Frame's emotionally portrayed love story between Rick and Zaria. Well done, Ms. Frame!

I would be remiss if I didn't mention a potential crossover possibility of the Wulvers to the Amelia & Byron series!! Due to the connection of the Wulvers to BaoBhan Sith (vampire fae) featured in the first installment of the Amelia & Byron series, "Hunger For You," and by extension, the Debreks (Byrons and her vampire clan). If you've read "Hunger For You," you'd know that the clincher at the end of that story was the inevitable all-out war between the Debreks and the Dreds after the death of the greatest witch in the world, with BaoBhan Sith as the Debreks' close ally. You can't imagine my utter excitement and anticipation for this crossover to happen, hopefully in the second installment of the vampire series! And then there's a very intriguing character in this book, Milo, Rhuri's niece who was half-witch... I'll just leave it at that. And speaking of Rhuri, I loved Rick's second-in-command from the start. Her character screamed "more" to me in terms of her own story! Here's hoping the next Wolfgang installment will feature charming, very single Rhuri, eh? Well, one can always wish, can't we?

All in all, I utterly enjoyed this installment. It's the most affecting and my favourite installment of the series, thusfar, in terms of the emotional journey, its relevance to the real world issues, that Frame weaved into an incredibly poignant and stirring, slow-burn love story. The Scottish angle just pushed the story to another level of love for me!! I HIGHLY recommend this book to all romance and urban fantasy fans. Whilst this book could be read as a stand-alone, but if you're like me, always inquisitive and curious about all characters featured in a story, I'd advise you to read the first two installments of the Wolfgang County series. Also, after reading this book, if you're so inclined, I would definitely recommend the Amelia & Byron series which I'm a big fan of! Vampires! Scotland! Everything I love plus Frame's writing style and storytelling that I've always enjoyed. What's not to love, right?

A bloody enthralling read if you ask me! Looking forward to see whether we'll see the Wulvers in Frame's next installment of the Amelia & Byron series! Oooo.... Anticipation! Anticipation!

*An ARC copy was given to me, with much thanks and appreciation, by Bold Strokes via NetGalley in return for an honest review*