Review: The Mating by Nicky Charles
First off I want to say that this is one of the best free reads I have ever read. Dare I say that it was better than the recent books that I have read that I actually paid for. Which makes this book one of the reasons I am happy I have a Nook Color, because browsing through their selection I found this book. With that being said lets jump into the review shall we:
The Characters
Though the entire novel is written from the third person perspective of the female lead that novel has two lead characters. The heroine of the story is a beautiful female werewolf named Elise who is forced into a mating with the leader of a foreign pack named Kane (welcome to the world of arranged marriages). Needless to say that her tension when first meeting Kane and learning that she is being mated to a complete stranger for political gains is easily understandable. Ms. Charles does and excellent job of making the reader feel and understand Elise's feelings. But I must say that if I were to be forced to marry I would hope it was to an hunky alpha wolf like Kane. Charles makes Kane into this mysteriously handsome and manner full wolf that I feel in love with from the moment he was introduced. Kane is understanding to Elise's feelings about being mated and then having their union proven to the wolf consul. And he remains this understanding throught the course of the book. He is patient and passionate. The only true hang up that I had with Kane was his protective nature towards a she wolf that was the problem within the whole story. Yet at the same time his actions towards her are somewhat understandable since Kane feels as if he is reasonable for her father's death. However though his actions may be understandable they still aren't accepted not when he pays more attention to her than to his new mate. Kane though a little late in the novel realizes that he is being manipulated. However Elise's character though I did like her got under my skin. Her overly passive nature made her seem weak and in need of constant defense from others. There was no point in the novel where her true authority as an alpha's mate showed. She constantly appeared weak and unable to handle her own. In some respects she wasn't a good match for Kane. As an alpha he needed a more assertive female that wouldn't so easily fall for the tricks of her enemies. But all in all they made a good match, not a perfect match but a good one. If her character was stronger then she would have been a perfect match for Kane.
The Plot
With that being said the plot of the story since it was the first book was actually lacking a little, however I do acknowledge that since it was mainly focused on the development of Kane and Elise's bond the plot suffered a little. What I mean by the plot lacking, is not that the story line wasn't good but it wasn't great. It was the tension and passion between Kane and Elise that kept me reading not the story on a whole. Especially since I figured out what was going on long before the story was close to ending. Yet that could be due to the fact that I read enough to catch little details that other readers may miss, however at the same time Ms. Charles could have made the female protagonist less transparent and added more substance to her other than the fact that she wanted the money of the pack.
However since this was a free read I was extremely happy that it captured me and the character kept me engrossed in the novel and even inspired me to write my own story. I look forward to reading the next books in the series.
Would I recommend this to a friend? Yes, I definitely would
Rating: 3/5
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