When I sat down to write this blog, I was surprised to realize how many books in this series there are now. I think I saw that Alpha’s Prey was book 11. No wonder these books are so good, Renee and Lee have plenty of practice in this world, and all that practice goes into making books that just get better as the series goes on.
So, even though this series started out in Arizona with werewolves, this book doesn’t have any of those wolves in it, except very tangentially. Nope, we’re in the mountains of New Mexico with a growly, grumpy bear.
We met Caleb in the last book, when he was pulled in by the wolves to fight Grizz. We really don’t know much about him though. We basically only see him as the fighter. But now we really get to meet Caleb and appreciate him. He has been going through the last 3 years as almost a ghost and in near hibernation. He lets his bear rule him a bit more than he should, since he has spent a lot of time as a bear. He spent enough that the wolves had to come and force him out of bear shape into human shape. His mate and daughter were killed by something that seemed unnatural, and he just went… bear. Even now, he only deals with the world in the summer when he goes to get work and spends most of the winter in as close a state of hibernation as people can get. But this winter, he’s awake-ish, thanks to the wolves.
Miranda is an ecologist. She’s studying global warming and is tired of the men in her department. She’s had to work a whole lot harder than they to get to the same place, and she has a Ph.D., just like them. But that doesn’t stop them from talking to her tits instead of her face or treating her like a secretary. Now, she has to go up to a cabin in the mountains to get more research info, and she’s actually looking forward to it, because she loves the mountains and nature, even in the winter. On her way, at a tiny little town, she’s warned off by local people because there are 3 other women who have gone missing, and a crazy bear in the woods. Then Miranda meets the crazy bear, as he looks in her window to try to see what’s going on. She thinks he’s less crazy looking and more intelligent.
OK, first of all, I love the idea of the ecologist and the werebear mountain man. I mean, are there 2 more compatible people because they are both concerned with what’s going with the natural world, the climate in general, and the ecology of any particular area? I snerked about that, because I thought it was just too funny.
I like Caleb. He is just a downright good man. I think the only mean bone or bad bone in his body shows up when he is being protective, and even then, he’s only mean to the people who deserve it, not the innocent people around him. He’s just good, and even better, nice. We see examples of it through the book, other than the way he is with Miranda, because it’s easy to be good to the woman you are interested in but not so nice to other people.
I totally get Miranda. She’s so tired of being seen as her body instead of her brain, or instead of seeing that the brain and the body are part and parcel. Caleb sees that from the very beginning. I think that he’s probably the first person who has ever seen Miranda for Miranda, and it can be terrifying to have someone see you so intently. It can also be wonderful, to be the focus of someone like that.
I thought that they were perfect each other, because they both were drifting through life, not quite awake. Their meeting shook them up and woke them up and made them discover what they had been missing.
I can’t wait to see where Lee and Renee are going to go next.
I both dislike and pity the bad guy. I mean, yeah, he’s fucking insane, but he’s also a victim. Of course, he took the bat shit crazy part a lot too far, and I would like to know if he was crazy before he went through what he did or if it happened because of his experiences. Interesting question, no?
OK, that’s all I have to say right now. Go check it out! Happy reading!
In Between the Pages 