Full disclosure for those who have not paid attention to the blurbs and first novel - this is not a fun romance of the 'fluffy, fun' version of the paranormal. This is a fairly nitty-gritty story, and (I believe) very close to what it really might be like if werewolves did exist in our reality.
Oh - I know that people will scream "No - we are all accepting and civilized" Yep. Tell it to the kids who are still tossed out or beaten for being gay.
There are many layers to this story - The love story which is muted as it must be a secret, the political story of werewolf clans, the individual stories, and the place where humans and werewolves cross.
Still - this story has strength and passion and I really like it. The characters are well-developed through behaviors, memories, dialogue, and observation. This writer shows the character - she does not tell us about the character. ( )

Please, see Issa's review. it's reflects very well my opinion. ( )

Unexpected Demands is Book Two in the ‘Hidden Wolves’ series. It stars Aaron Tremaine, the new Alpha of the pack from Book One, and Zach, a young wolf with some deep problems. The story is told in first person through Aaron’s pov.



First the cover. All the covers were redone for this series and I think they came out very well. This is probably one of my favorites of the series. Aaron is the wolf on the cover and Zach is the young man.

The blurb gives a basic idea of what the plot is about, but I’ll add a bit more. Zach, the young wolf, is an alcoholic. While he is going through withdrawal, Zach stays at Aaron’s place, and there Aaron can keep an eye on Zach so he doesn’t get into any more trouble. Aaron finds out that Zach is a wiz with computers and hacking. Good thing to, because Zach finds out that someone has released a picture of Simon on the werewolf community board. Supposedly the board is safe from human eyes, but not so. Simon is kidnapped by humans and Aaron must ask for help from a neighboring Alpha and his pack to rescue Simon and destroy evidence of the werewolf existence. The plot starts to get more intense around this part. This other pack is a mercenary type pack with a tougher Alpha than Aaron. The search for the person in charge and the clean-up bothered me. It was heartless as the wolves killed innocent people. The author did a good job of showing how both sides felt about how humans treated wolves so that the reader would sympathize with the wolves. But then at the end as they hunted the humans, the wolves became murderers of people who had nothing to do with revealing what they were. Which made me think of why should humans trust werewolves when they finally reveal themselves? Humans have enough trouble with other humans, they don’t need any more problems with werewolves who are more vicious and capable of killing humans than humans against wolves. Humans can adapt to change better than the werewolves. Even Aaron, the more progressive of the wolves, sticks to his belief that wolves are wolves, they have a hierarchy and that’s the way it is. No one overrules the Alphas and the wolves all fight for dominance. They aren’t going to adapt well to less hierarchical societies, and they fly into rages pretty fast if they are challenged. They also challenge anyone because they want to be top dog. So far humans marrying/mating into their groups are less than the wolves and must follow wolf rules. This story shows how ruthless and cruel humans can be, but it also shows that wolves are no better, so there’s no reason for us to sympathize with the werewolves, but we do just because the story is from their pov. I fall on the same side as Paul’s beliefs. Werewolves are cruel, backwards in their thinking, and can’t be trusted.

We see events in this story through Aaron’s first person pov. Unfortunately, this pov didn’t pull me in as much and I felt distant from the characters and the situations. I didn’t even sympathize with Aaron’s inner conflict when he murdered the innocent people. I ended up not liking Aaron in this story and didn’t care much for Zach either, although he was a great hacker and computer expert. Book One was more intense and emotional, and I prefer that story over this one.
I liked seeing Paul and Simon again in this story and how their bond worked. They were still having trouble with their relationship but worked some of it out as the story went on. I liked learning about the connections the Alpha had with the rest of the pack and how Aaron was learning his Alpha duties and abilities. But as a character, he was only okay. Maybe that’s because I don’t like personalities that are ‘my way or the highway’, and that was Aaron. I didn’t get much of a feel for Zach, he seemed more there as a subject to bounce Aaron’s character growth off of and as deux machina with his computer skills. So Zach was more nebulous to me.

Overall, I didn’t find Unexpected Demands as emotionally intense as Book One. I couldn’t sympathize with Aaron or Zach that much and it could’ve been because this book was written in first person, one pov. The best parts were the scenes with Simon and Paul. I give this story, 4 Stars because it was still well written and edited even though I wasn’t that much into the characters.

( )

4.5 stars

*****

I am honestly not holding this against the author :D

***

I am very happy with this series so far. Except maybe being stuck in Aaron's head a bit too much, but hey, if it brings me to this, who am I to complain:

"He lay sprawled face-down on the sheets, blankets kicked off down by his feet. He had pulled off his T-shirt and jeans, but still a light sweat slicked his skin again. He shifted restlessly, and looked over at me in the doorway..."

"He lay there blinking up at me, his eyes heavy with sleep. His hair was a tousled black halo around his head on the white pillow. He slept nude."



Imagine that baby kitteh puppy, only nude =)`

Some time later:

"I spun Zach in my arms and shoved him against the wall by the stairs. The sweatpants he slept in slid down easily and he was bare to my hands. For a moment I lost myself in the glorious curve of his ass under my fingers."

But then, but then!!!! Just brace yourself here... Put away all your beverages, hot or cold. Because - displaced modifiers! *rolls eyes*

"Reaching around, the unexpected size of him filled my hands."

And there it was, the gif I pinned not a day ago, popping up in my head:

NSFW-ish


Йаду мне, йаду!!! I mean Bleach for my brainz, bleach for muh brainzzz!


( )

Kaje is one of these authors that even if it was a grocery list she wrote I would read it! I love her stories regardless of the genre.

And this series just keep getting better. I'm so glad that Aaron got his own story! Again the characters are so real that they live in my mind (and heart). The storytelling is fabulous and again creates a book that I simply can't put down. And again, I'm greedy. I want more...haven't had enough yet of any of these guys.

So please Kaje...keep writing. ( )