Wednesday, July 05, 2023

Book Review: Steele by Margo Bond Collins

 

Book Description

Mila Wright spent the last year planning her dream wedding in Yellowstone National Park. But that dream becomes a nightmare when those plans fall apart in the worst way possible. Distraught, she runs, not considering the dangers that might await her if she strays from the marked roadways in the park.

When Steele Jacobs goes out for a run in his wolf form and hears a human woman crying, he knows the last thing he should do is get involved. But something about the sound draws him to her—and when he sees Mila Wright, he knows without a doubt that she is his fated mate.

But he’s expected to choose a mate who will strengthen the Moonstone Pack, not a human weakling who brings nothing to the match. Can Mila even accept his werewolf nature? And if they bond together, can the two of them protect the pack against its new enemies?


My Review

Mila finds out her fiancĂ© is having an affair with her supposed best friend. So she leaves for a walk but gets lost and attacked by a bear before Steele can come to her rescue in his wolf form. When Steele does get to her and runs the bear off, Mila is losing blood and is in and out of consciousness so he brings her to the pack doctor and has him stitch her up. Steele feels something for this human right away but he's a wolf shifter and doesn't know if his pack would accept a human as his mate since he's the alpha but the pull towards her is very strong. 

While these two are getting to know each other better, there's another wolf shifter pack that's after Steele's territory and his pack and they find themselves in a lot of danger because of the other alpha. 

Now this had so much promise and I went into this thinking I was going to love this book but unfortunately I was wrong. First, I don't like cheating in a romance book. I was just talking about tropes I don't like on another blog last week and cheating was one of them. 

Another thing I disliked was how many times Mila was referred to as fat. I really hated that and it detracted from the story for me. Why is it that full figured heroines are so often looked down on in books? 

Another thing was Mila had just been attacked so bad by a bear that she needed stitches but she seemed to be just fine the next day and day after. She was human so there was no speedy healing going on it was all slow, painful, human healing so why wasn't she in more pain the next day? It made no sense. 

The rival pack treated their females badly and even put a pregnant female in danger and threatened her life and the life of her unborn child. I disliked that a lot. 

I felt that all the abuse, cheating and putting down the heroine because of her weight really detracted from a sweet romance in this story. 

I give this book 1 out of 5 stars. 

Disclosure: I was given an e-ARC of this book via NetGalley but all thoughts and opinions are my own.