Oh J.L. Langley is on a serious roll with this series! I adored this second book and, in fact, it's my favorite of them so far. The writing was just as good. The plot, the dialogue, etc. were all fantastic. I think I fell more for this book because of the two main characters.

I'll admit I didn't like Remi a whole lot when he was first introduced in the prior book. He came across as a homophobic, arrogant little snot! He was verbally cruel to Keaton and I didn't care for him. I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt mainly because I figured if Chay was his best friend and had been for all those years then there must be redeeming qualities to him. I'm so glad I was right! I fell in love with Remi. All the abuse and fear he's lived with his entire life broke my heart. I could understand the walls he puts up to protect himself and, more importantly, from letting anyone ever know in order to protect his little brother, Sterling. (On a side note I am crazy about Sterling and can't wait to read his story). Remi is vulnerable but definitely NOT weak.

Please find my full review at Rainbow Book Reviews

I enjoyed this only slightly less than Without Reservation. The Dom/Sub relationship isn't really my thing, but I think it was very light and handled well here, so it wasn't a turnoff for the entire book.

My biggest issue with this book is the number of gay characters. In the second of the series (where we first meet this pack) there is very little sense of Chay knowing any other gay guys. In here, Jake has at least two gay friends. It's not that many people compared to the number in the pack, so I guess it's fitting, I just felt surprised by the number, I suppose.

Oddly enough, I think I was more satisfied with the ending of this book than the previous one. It's not too happy an ending, but it's not sad either. Well balanced.

The brothers' relationship (nonsexual) is great. Sterling, the little brother, is adorable and chipper and everything a boy that age should be. Remi, who's a JERK the first time we saw him, has "grown up" by the time we get this book. Plus we find out more of why he acts the way he does, so we forgive him. Lovely interactions among characters.

Plus, "HOLYSHITYOURMYMATEWHYDIDN'TYOUTELLME?"

Read on Overdrive

We met Remi in the previous book, and he was a bit of an arsehole! I didn’t like him until the end. I loved Jake. He was such a sweatheart. He was determined to do all he could for Remy. His dad was one nasty piece of work, I wanted to slap him so many times!

Jake is trying to help Remi with his dad. He just wants them both safe and free from harm. My heart went out to Remi and his brother Sterling. I could see why Remi acted the way he did after hearing his backstory.

I loved Remi and Jake. They are just perfect for each other. The ending has some good action and leaves us with another set of mates. Fate has paired these couples well. My favourite will always be book one in the series!

I was kind of leery about reading this one. I was NOT a fan of Remi in Without Reservations. I thought he was a prick. How in the world was he going to deal with Jake.

Then, it happened. Oh boy. I fell in love with Jake and Remi! I loved how patient Jake was. He was letting Remi learn how to be a wolf before he threw the word "mate" at him.

Remi was so confused all the time at why he was always calmer around Jake and why he was always hard around him. HA! I loved their friendship and how Jake included Sterling.

Oh, Sterling, how I love thee. Remi was SO protective of Sterling and it was amazing to see that bond. About what they would do for each other to keep each other safe.

I would have liked to have seen more of the Alpha/Omega thing more--like what "powers" they would have/give each other that John Carter was talking about. I did NOT like the public claiming though. Why did it have to be public? Kind of weird.

So as much as I loved Remi and Jake, I think Sterling and Rhys really captured my attention. I want that story...NOW! Those two shorts have me wanting more. Also,

Spoiler

is Sterling going to be as strong as Kaiden? EEK! That 3rd form is AWESOME!!!! CAN NOT WAIT!

Looking forward to the next book...Keaton's brother?!

4.5/5

Sorry, but I've had to DNF at 52%. I'm just not into the dom/sub, light bdsm, or calling one "sir" in a sexual manner thing. It's wayyyyy too ewwww for me. Not gonna finish this.

It turns out my library actually has a small selection of paperback M/M titles and this was one of them and I thought, oh, isn't this author one of the ones the M/M group raves about? So I decided to read it, despite it being the 3rd of a series (actually, it wasn't that hard to get what was going on, since each book seems to focus on a different couple) and well, it was just ok. I think the problem is that if you put aside the sex scenes (of which there were a lot, and were really boring, repetitive... I basically skipped all of them), the plot was not all that interesting.

The conflict between the main characters was resolved a little too easily, especially when one of the two was apparently very homophobic in the previous book. I also don't get why he's immediately so submissive to the other one (especially since he was abused before). The author explains this as a werewolf thing, but her werewolf mythology isn't really developed well and she seems to use it to her convenience in order to explain stuff that she can't find other explanations for. I also get the sense that she probably hasn't researched that much about actual wolves.

I ended up trying to read the previous two in the series, and found them rather cringe-inducing. I don't think this series is for me.

On a positive note, though, I did like how the two brothers cared so much about each other and looked out for each other. It was very sweet and their relationship was a lot more fun and interesting than the actual couple!

MUCH BETTER THAN WITHOTU RESERVATIONS

I'm still new to the m/m romance genre, and by far this is one of the best. Definitely so in J.L Langley's "with or without" series.

Though it's a personal thing, I'm not really into S&M. (It's kinda light anyway)

5 STARS!